On the recordSeptember 7, 2022
I rise today to report back from a trip that Senator Portman and I took to Ukraine last week. And the No. 1 thing I would like to report is that President Zelenskyy personally asked us--and I know that Senator Portman addressed the Senate last night and reported this--but he personally asked us to thank the U.S. Senate, to thank the people of this country for the generous and unending continuing help that the Senate has given to Ukraine in their fight for democracy. This is a country that has given it all. Sometimes we wonder, in our own country, what are we going to put on the line for our democracy? Are we going to go over and vote today? How much do we care? There, the people of Ukraine are putting their lives on the line every single day. The ballerina who puts on camo and goes to the front lines, the exhausted workers at the nuclear plant trying to protect not just the country of Ukraine, but surrounding countries because it is the biggest nuclear plant in all of Europe, supplying 20 percent of the electricity to the people of Ukraine. They go to work every day, under incredible stress and pressure that we can't imagine, trying to keep their country safe while surrounded by 500 Russian troops. We think of the cellist playing beautiful melodies on the front steps of bombed-out remnants of a town square to remind people that culture and love still exist in this country.…
