Michael Bennet: “I would like to start by thanking the Presiding Officer for being here at this late hour and for the staff who are here…”

“I would like to start by thanking the Presiding Officer for being here at this late hour and for the staff who are here, the pages who are here, the others who are here late at night before the holidays. Thank you for being here and for your service. And I think we are coming to a point--maybe not tonight but in the next 24 hours--when we are going to conclude our business here for the moment or at least temporarily conclude our business. I wanted to come to the floor because one of the things that I feel very strongly about that we have not yet done is to pass the Ukraine funding, which I think is essential for Ukraine, essential for our own national security, and essential for Western democracy. I really believe that. I think it is of that importance, and I believe we should have gotten to a bipartisan agreement on this long ago. I think that we should have gotten it through the House of Representatives long ago. But I am not in charge of the Senate; I am not in charge of the House of Representatives. I am just one person in this body--like the Presiding Officer is--and sometimes democracy moves more slowly than one would like, certainly than I would like. I feel more optimistic today than I did last week about the prospects of our getting to the point where we have that bipartisan vote and where we can send a piece of legislation over to the House to fund this. The House is not going to start it, we know that, because of the politics over there.…”