Senator Wicker: America Still Stands for Freedom

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., as the highest-ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, spoke today on the U.S. Senate floor to help get the national security supplemental across the finish line.

Read Senator Wicker's remarks as delivered below or watch them here.

There is a very good chance that there will be good news this weekend for American security, for European peace, and for a signal to be sent for strength and success for the alliance of free nations.

Yesterday afternoon, the Speaker of the House said that Congress will soon send a very important message. And yes, it's correct. The House will send an important message. In the next few days, I believe Congress will remind the tyrants of the world and the free people of the world that America stands strong and that America keeps its word.

I commend Speaker Johnson for doing the difficult thing, but the right thing. He followed the admonition, actually, of the Apostle Paul. The Speaker could have put his own interests above the interests of others. But he did not.

The eyes of our friends and our foes have been on the House of Representatives, and the Speaker rose to the occasion. He recognized that this moment was too important to squander for political expediency.

The world is indeed on fire, and this administration's weakness has fanned those flames. At the very least, President Biden's drip-drip-drip approach has failed to douse the flames of the international fire.

And make no mistake: Russia, China, and Iran, with its terrorist proxies, are working together. And they are conducting war on two fronts: in Israel and in Ukraine.

And I agree with a bipartisan majority of this Senate and the House of Representatives that America has an important role to play in both those conflicts.

America is an exceptional nation with an exceptional task: to lead on the world stage and to make it clear that we can be counted on to keep our promises.

At important moments throughout our history, there's always been a group advocating for American retreat. Some of my friends today want the United States to withdraw, to stay behind our own safe walls. As if that were possible.

But time and again, the American people have learned - sometimes with some difficulty, sometimes reluctantly - that retreating does not create safety. What happens abroad reaches our shores, whether we like it or not. It just does.

Like the Speaker, I am a Reagan Republican. Ronald Reagan stands in history as a leader who achieved peace - peace through strength.

In the next few days, I believe we will work toward that goal by sending aid to our ally, Israel, and by improving our ability to counter China in the Indo-Pacific.

I also believe we will do that - I believe we will work for that peace through strength - by sending additional lethal aid to Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin is a proven war criminal. If he is allowed to win, he will not stop in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian people have proven themselves capable on the battlefield - remarkably capable. They have achieved remarkable wins against the Russian dictator. They did so even this week. They simply ask us to give them the tools to keep doing that job.

Speaker Johnson said we should be sending bullets to Ukraine, not American boys. I agree. His son will soon put on the uniform as a Midshipman, and my son continues his military service in the Air Force reserve. So, this is personal to me and it's personal to the Speaker of the House and for many parents whose sons and daughters proudly serve - including Mississippians on active duty and in the National Guard.

I recognize that some of my colleagues disagree.

I'm glad they'll be given the chance to vote their conscience, as our Founders intended, when they designed our system of government through their willingness to agree, disagree, and then come to a conclusion with each other. The system they built has remained sturdy. It has weathered contentious times at home and abroad.

Mr. President, some talking heads today equate compromise with weakness. Our Founders did not do so, and neither do I. Momentous times - perilous times - compel us to work together, and it is not weak to do so.

Everyone in the House, and then everyone in the Senate, will soon get to make their voice heard on this very important topic. When all is said and done, I hope and pray we will reassure our allies and remind our adversaries that America still stands for freedom. And we stand for peace through strength.

Thank you, Mr. President, and I yield the floor.

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