Rob Portman: “yesterday I talked about an amendment that is absolutely crucial that we include in this legislation. Again, I commend…”

“yesterday I talked about an amendment that is absolutely crucial that we include in this legislation. Again, I commend the chairman, Senator McCain, and the ranking member, Senator Reed, for their work on this underlying bill. But there is something missing, and it is very clear to everybody who is looking at this issue objectively, particularly what is going on right now on the eastern border of Ukraine. We do not have the ability in Europe, because we have pulled our armored units out, to say with credibility that we have the capacity to address the very real challenge now, unfortunately, that is emerging in Europe. Last night, as some of you know, Russian and separatist forces launched an offensive again. I am told it is the largest attack since the February Minsk agreement. So this is just what so many people predicted, including President Poroshenko and others in Ukraine, which is that things are heating up again on the eastern border of Ukraine. The NATO forces--the United States of American in particular--need to be sure they have in Europe the ability to at least have some credibility to say they can respond to this. We have moved our armored units out, meaning there are not Abrams tanks there, except for a few units that were up in the Baltics on a temporary basis this spring. I visited them a couple of months ago. They are doing a terrific job, but they are leaving.…”