During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) compared Republican foreign policy with Democratic agendas.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Iowa. Thank you, Madam President. I come to the floor to discuss the differences between
00:08Democrat foreign policy and Republican foreign policy.
00:16I suppose I should start over again. I forgot the microphone. I come to the floor to discuss
00:23the differences between Democrat foreign policy and Republican foreign policy.
00:29There seems to be a pattern where if a Republican president is elected,
00:36partisan pundits warn that it will be very bad for our international relations.
00:46Now, by contrast, when a Democrat president takes over from a Republican,
00:52the same partisan pundits often promise smooth, overall, international relations.
01:05These same left-leaning pundits then breathe a sigh of relief that our alliances will be shored up
01:15and everything will be miraculously harmonious.
01:23But if you look at the record, it often doesn't work out that way.
01:31President Carter presided over a string of foreign policy disasters, leaving the United States
01:38looking weak and humiliated. Ronald Reagan was portrayed as a dangerous cowboy who might start a
01:48nuclear war. On the contrary, Reagan's calculated efforts to push back against Soviet communism
01:59resulted in fewer nuclear arms and freed millions of people from repressive regimes.
02:11In 2009, the new vice president, Joe Biden, went to Munich to deliver the Obama administration's
02:22first major foreign policy address. That address was hailed by some in the media
02:31as announcing a more cooperative approach with European countries.
02:38Biden's promise to defer more to other countries rather than setting the agenda
02:48was a foreshadowing of President Obama's infamous leading from behind policy,
02:57which turned out to be a disastrous policy. Biden also said, quote,
03:04it is time to press the reset button and to revisit the many areas where we can and should
03:12be working together with Russia, end of quote. And then look at what Russia did after that comment.
03:24This comment was six months after Russia had invaded and occupied territory of the Republic
03:33of Georgia, which, if you remember, had sent significant forces to fight alongside the American
03:41military in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, can you believe in a unilateral effort to show good,
03:56meaning goodwill towards Russia? The Obama-Biden reset included abruptly scrapping
04:08planned missile defense cooperation with the Czech and Polish allies of America.
04:16To add insult to injury, the Obama administration made the announcement about abandoning
04:26our missile defense cooperation with the Czech Republic and Poland on the anniversary
04:35of the Soviet invasion of Poland. Not an ideal time to make that announcement.
04:41And of course, that announcement turned out to be a grave error. Not only did it offend
04:49some of our most pro-American allies, but it also sent the very exact wrong message
04:58to dictator Vladimir Putin. Putin's Russia, like the old Soviet Union before,
05:09only understands strength. They respect even enemies that have strength.
05:18They're not going to take advantage of somebody that shows strength. Unilateral concessions are
05:26perceived by Putin as weakness and actually encourage further aggression, just like we saw
05:37against Ukraine in 2014. The Obama response to the 2014 invasion of Ukraine was again
05:51dangerously weak. Sending such a signal to Putin is the wrong thing to do.
05:59This signal amounted to wagging its proverbial finger at Russia while denying Ukraine the
06:12defensive weapons needed to repel the Russian invasion. So what did Obama do? His policy
06:23was to send helmets and blankets and then push for negotiations, another show of weakness,
06:33doing all this while leaving Ukraine helpless with a gun to its head.
06:41Obviously, negotiations under such circumstances effectively meant Russia keeping what it gained
06:50by force and freezing the conflict until Russia could take more land. Is there any wonder then
07:02that Putin felt he could get away with taking the rest of Ukraine in February of 2022?
07:14You know what he was getting away with at the same time? Killing women, children, grandmothers,
07:21granddads. Really kidnapping maybe 20,000 children, taking them to Russia.
07:33President Obama's pursuit of a nuclear deal with Iran at all costs alienated our closest allies,
07:46ally in the Middle East, that close ally we all know is Israel. But the Iran agreement also
07:57alarmed Saudi Arabia, which has been a longtime strategic partner of the United States.
08:06And then you remember the drawing of the infamous red line in Syria at the time
08:14Syria was going to gas people to death. And this infamous red line,
08:22before immediately abandoning it, as Obama did, sending a very dangerous signal
08:33to America about America's weakness to the axis of Iran, Russia, and China.
08:42And China now very much cooperating as an axis like Germany, Italy,
08:50and Japan did before World War II and during World War II.
08:56Now all of this about the red line no doubt played into Vladimir Putin's calculations
09:06when he chose to invade Ukraine for the first time a few months later.
09:16Now so far I've just talked about Democrat administrations. I want to talk about Republican.
09:23When Trump was elected, he scrapped the nuclear deal. This repaired the trust
09:32with our Gulf partners. And not only repairing trust, but leading
09:41and setting the stage for the Abraham Accords, which accords were cooperations
09:50that nobody thought could ever happen between Israel and Arab nations. Because previous
09:57administrations said we can't expect any sort of close working relationships between Israel
10:05and Arab countries if we don't have a Palestinian state. But President Trump didn't wait
10:15for a Palestinian state. And yet he had success bringing Israel
10:24in economic relationships with a lot of Gulf partners. This major diplomatic breakthrough
10:34went way beyond the long sought recognition of Israel by Arab and Muslim countries.
10:43It also opened the door to economic and people to people ties that have the potential
10:53to foster a new era of mutual understanding and peace in the Middle East.
11:01President Obama was also overly cautious in dealing with China's aggression in the
11:11South China Sea. And too overly deferential to China's imperialistic sensitivities
11:20towards Taiwan. Now do you remember in 1979, the Taiwan Relations Act passed and it mandated strong
11:31if unofficial economic and military ties, including military sales.
11:37This has been the basis of US policy with Taiwan for decades. The more you slow walk
11:45military sales to Taiwan, out of deference to China's feelings, the more China feels
11:53really empowered to dictate aspects of our bilateral relationships with Taiwan.
12:02President Trump abandoned this weak and this dangerous Obama policy of appeasement.
12:14President Trump imposed sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which Russia was clearly
12:22which Russia was clearly pursuing to give Russia geopolitical leverage over Europe and Ukraine,
12:33because supplying energy to other countries brings that leverage.
12:42So the Trump administration armed and trained the Ukrainian military and cooperated closely
12:51with our frontline allies like the Baltic nations and Poland. The Trump administration
12:58stopped being deferential towards China. Armed sales to Taiwan became a regular occurrence,
13:06and US government officials got the blessing to interact with their Taiwanese counterparts.
13:16Because can you imagine China feeling it has a right to tell senators and people in the
13:25administration or our US House of Representative members that you can't go to Taiwan?
13:35Now this message that Trump sent, China got that message, that it couldn't get away with
13:42breaking trade rules and pushing around our allies and partners in the region.
13:49Most recently, President Trump's insistence on resuming to failed Obama-era policies
13:59has resulted in foreign policy setbacks. The cascade of countries joining the Abraham Accords
14:08would likely have continued to include even Saudi Arabia. But the Biden administration's
14:16repeated efforts to resurrect the defunct Iran nuclear deal once again damaged the trust
14:26of our regional allies and our partners at the same time empowering Iran.
14:34President Biden promised to repair relations with our European allies.
14:41What he meant became clear when he dropped sanctions on the North Stream 2 pipeline.
14:50This was a sign of deference towards Germany at the expense of our Eastern European allies.
14:57Germany is indeed a close ally in Europe, but Germany is not all of Europe. Also while it is
15:09known that there was a personality conflict between President Trump and former Chancellor
15:15Merkel of Germany, our alliance with Germany is deep enough to survive both personality conflicts
15:24and differences over North Stream 2. In hindsight, everyone, even including the Germans,
15:37can see the folly in giving Vladimir Putin the ability to turn the heat on and the lights off
15:47throughout all of Europe. And he would be glad to have that power.
15:55This gesture of goodwill towards Germany was certainly not worth bolstering Putin
16:03and upsetting several Central and Eastern European allies who saw clearly what was at stake
16:13if you gave Putin that power. Let's face it, Trump does ruffle feathers, but his policies,
16:27including pushing delinquent NATO members to spend the agreed amount on defense
16:34that they're obligated to spend on NATO security,
16:42these countries were better for it, and European security was better for it than the Obama
16:50and Biden policies that simply sought applause from certain European leaders.
16:57There are those strongly backing Trump, and then, as we know, those strongly opposed to Trump,
17:07both claiming, though, to know what he would do in a second term. I do not much have much time for
17:17pontificating and political prognosticating based upon speculation. I do not have much time
17:27to look at the record, and I hope I have reminded people of that record.
17:35We should demand a foreign policy based on American strength. Sometimes we talk about
17:44peace through strength, or sometimes we forget to remind people that a strong American military
17:53is the best tool to bring about world peace. So we should demand a foreign policy based upon
18:02that strength, and we should also be on guard to not accept a failure of American leadership
18:11spun as a more collaborative approach with our allies. Our allies who are closest to the threats
18:21from Russia and China really want strong American leadership and need us to push our more reluctant
18:30allies to do what it takes to defend the free world. That is what we saw in the first Trump
18:40administration, and it's the kind of leadership we badly need right now. I yield the floor and
18:49suggest the absence of a quorum.