“Vote no on this amendment. It ruins the bill by removing tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil and gas. If this amendment passes, the bill will fail.”

“Mr. President, I appreciate my colleague from Alabama’s strong support of this bill. She has been instrumental in our reaching this point, and I thank her and Senator Graham of South Carolina. To state it really bluntly, Mr. President, this amendment kills the bill. It decimates the purpose of the bill, which has been the result of painstaking--sometimes painful--negotiations over months with the White House, with our colleagues here, with the U.S. Trade Representative, whom I also thank for his cooperation and assistance. It would eliminate tariff provisions that have been narrowly constrained to the five largest purchasers of Russian oil and gas. It is not a broad, blunderbuss provision. It is narrowly targeted. And no secret, the two largest purchasers? Ninety percent, China and Russia. So let’s be real here. This narrowly targeted tariff provision is essential to the bill. The choice isn’t between this bill with tariffs and a bill without tariffs. The choice is between this bill or no bill. I oppose this amendment and urge my colleagues to vote no.”

“I want the Senate to pass this bill. Russia uses money from selling energy to fund the war in Ukraine and kill more people. Ukraine's president asked us for this help.”

“Mr. President, colleagues, every day that Russia earns billions from energy exports, it has more resources to finance this war. Every day that Putin has those resources, he gains more time. Every day that Putin gains more time, more Ukrainians are killed. This legislation is what President Zelenskyy asked us to do. This is what Senator Graham worked so hard to achieve. I hope we can give it an overwhelming vote. I yield the floor.”

“I want the Senate to pass this bill. It will stop countries from buying Russian oil and gas, which helps fund Russia's war against Ukraine.”

“Mr. President, I want to thank my colleagues in advance for their overwhelming bipartisan support for this bill that shows we can still work together for the right causes to accomplish the right results. I want to particularly thank Senator Lindsey Graham and his courageous, effective sister Darline for their immensely important, even historic contribution to this bill. Today, we say to Vladimir Putin: You will not conquer Ukraine. We stand with the brave, free people of Ukraine. We need to provide them military assistance. We can’t do that today, but we are providing the economic tools that are necessary to stop the major purchases of Russian oil and gas from fueling Putin’s war machine. President Zelenskyy has said to us from the beginning: Give us the tools; we will do the job. Today, we give him an essential tool. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. I yield the floor.”