Rob Portman: “today marks exactly 3 months since Russia began its war on Ukraine. I have come to the Senate floor for what is now the…”

“today marks exactly 3 months since Russia began its war on Ukraine. I have come to the Senate floor for what is now the 13th straight week since that time while the Senate has been in session to talk about this unprovoked, illegal, and brutal war that they are waging on our ally Ukraine, a democratic and sovereign country. Since I spoke last week, we had a very important development. At the end of last week, the Senate came together in a strong bipartisan vote to pass what is called the supplemental funding bill for Ukraine. The vote was 86 to 11. It passed the House the week prior with a similar strong bipartisan vote. Congress, in this legislation, actually went above what the President had requested. He initially requested $33 billion and Congress decided to provide $40 billion to ensure that the Ukrainians had the funding they needed through this fall. In combination with the help from about 40 different countries around the world, Ukrainians now have the ammunition and weapons, as well as the humanitarian and economic support they need to survive and also to continue their fight for the next several months. Importantly, the supplemental spending bill will replenish what is called the Presidential Drawdown Authority. It was depleted. That is the authority that lets us very quickly transfer weapons from our own surpluses to the Ukrainians and it has been very effective.…”