We will not walk away. We will not bow down. I will not bow down. The free world at risk, emboldening others who wish to do us harm. If the United States walks away now, it will put Ukraine at risk.Įurope at risk. Send me the Bipartisan National Security Bill. I say this to Congress: we must stand up to Putin. Prime Minister, welcome to NATO, the strongest military alliance the world has ever known. We welcomed Finland to the Alliance last year, and just this morning, Sweden officially joined NATO, and their Prime Minister is here tonight. Today, we’ve made NATO stronger than ever. It’s outrageous. It’s dangerous. It’s unacceptable.Īmerica is a founding member of NATO the military alliance of democratic nations created after World War II to prevent war and keep the peace. Now, my predecessor, a former Republican President, tells Putin, “Do whatever the hell you want.”Ī former American President actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader. It wasn’t that long ago when a Republican President, Ronald Reagan, thundered, “Mr.
And I am determined to keep it that way.īut now assistance for Ukraine is being blocked by those who want us to walk away from our leadership in the world. In fact, there are no American soldiers at war in Ukraine. They are not asking for American soldiers. If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not.īut Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukraine and provide the weapons it needs to defend itself. That is all Ukraine is asking. Overseas, Putin of Russia is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaos throughout Europe and beyond. What makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack, both at home and overseas, at the very same time. Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault here at home as they are today. Now it is we who face an unprecedented moment in the history of the Union.Īnd yes, my purpose tonight is to both wake up this Congress, and alert the American people that this is no ordinary moment either.
Tonight I come to the same chamber to address the nation.
President Roosevelt’s purpose was to wake up the Congress and alert the American people that this was no ordinary moment.įreedom and democracy were under assault in the world. Hitler was on the march. War was raging in Europe. He said, “I address you at a moment unprecedented in the history of the Union.” I made it through, with a lot of support, and reconstructed my life and my family.In January 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt came to this chamber to speak to the nation. In his 2017 book, Promise Me, Dad, he wrote: “The pain seemed unbearable in the beginning, and it took me a long time to heal, but I did survive the punishing ordeal. He went on to explain how he was in Washington hiring staff for his new Senate role when he found out his wife and daughter had died. What has Joe Biden said about her death?Īt a 2015 commencement speech Mr Biden told students at Yale University: “Six weeks after my election, my whole world was altered forever.” Mr Biden was sworn into the Senate in the hospital where they were recovering. Ms Hunter and the children were all taken to Wilmington General Hospital, but she and her daughter Naomi, who was just one year old, died upon arrival.īoth of the boys sustained serious injuries, but survived. She accidentally drove into the path of a tractor trailer, which struck the car. On 18 December 1972, a month after Mr Biden won the senate race, Ms Hunter was driving to collect a Christmas tree, along with their three children, in Hockessin, Delaware, near their home. Joe Biden married his second wife, Jill, in 1977 (Photo: AP) Neilia Hunter’s death