On the recordJanuary 18, 2022
I have just come back from a trip to Ukraine with six of my colleagues, a bipartisan group organized very ably by Senator Portman and Senator Shaheen, to express our solidarity with the people of Ukraine in their fight for freedom and democracy against Russian aggression. They need us to stand with them as they stand strong for their country's independence against Vladimir Putin's effort to intimidate them, potentially to invade their country, but, assuredly, in a hybrid war consisting of misinformation, cyber attack, and military action that is designed very simply to destabilize, demoralize, and degrade their country's governance. And as we stood with them, meeting with the President, Mr. Zelensky, and the top leadership, I couldn't help but think of this country and how grateful we should be for our strength, our freedom, our democracy. All of us, when we return from travel abroad, I think, express our gratitude to be Americans, to live in a country where these freedoms and our independence are assured but where we, too, need to be strong and ever vigilant and vigorous in protecting those freedoms. We are the greatest Nation in the history of the world, the strongest and most freedom-loving on the planet.…





