Political Quotes

“I wanted to come down to talk about a topic that a number of Senators have been talking about and that a number of Senators have been focused on. That is the topic of Taiwan and potentially the defense of Taiwan and the support for Taiwan. As this body knows, in 1979, the Senate passed a very important bill called the Taiwan Relations Act--a very bipartisan bill. From that time on, the Senate has played a very important oversight role in U.S. relations with Taiwan, and it has always been very bipartisan. Recently, a bipartisan codel, led by the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Menendez, with many other Senators-- Senator Graham, Senator Portman, Senator Sasse--traveled to Taiwan. I just got an out-brief from some of those Senators--a very good meeting. I was part of a bipartisan codel about a year ago, with Senator Coons and Senator Duckworth, also to Taiwan. So there is a long tradition in the U.S. Senate, in a bipartisan way, with all of us working together, of addressing this question: To what degree should we be supporting and defending Taiwan against a very aggressive Chinese Communist Party, led by the dictator Xi Jinping? Why does it matter? Why should we all be working together, as we have done for decades here in the U.S. Senate, Democrats and Republicans, to deter a military invasion of Taiwan?…”