Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Bennet for those comments. Senator Shaheen, thank you for organizing this opportunity for us to talk about the importance of this bill. I must tell you, it has been a long road, and there were times where I think we thought we would not be able to get this aid package to the floor of the U.S. Senate. The Senator from Colorado was one of the strongest voices that we had to make sure we never gave up. We were disappointed many, many times over many months. Senator Shaheen has been in the forefront, serving both on Armed Services and Senate Foreign Relations, to make sure, again, that we kept the momentum moving forward to get this done. Even last night, when we thought that there was an impediment that we could not overcome, we looked at the votes on the board and said that it doesn't look like we are going to get there. Senator Shaheen said, Senator Bennet said, Senator Blumenthal said that we can't give up. I have the honor of chairing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Presiding Officer is one of our distinguished members. There is no more important foreign policy priority than getting this bill passed and signed by the President. It is our No. 1 priority for our national security. You have heard my colleagues talk about the fact that this is not about Russia versus Ukraine. That is what this war immediately is about, but it is about the free-world democracy versus autocracy.…
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