U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly spoke on the floor of the Senate Thursday continuing his calls for the Administration to put forward a clear, comprehensive strategy to confront the threat posed by North Korea and Kim Jong Un’s regime. Earlier this week Donnelly announced that, when the Senate debates the annual national defense bill, he will push for passage of his amendment requiring the Administration to bring a North Korea strategy to Congress within 90 days.
As Ranking Member of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Donnelly has led efforts to increase funding for U.S. missile defense programs and supported provisions in this year’s national defense bill to significantly strengthen the U.S. homeland missile defense system against the threat of an intercontinental ballistic missile attack.
As Ranking Member of the Banking Committee’s National Security and International Trade and Finance Subcommittee, Donnelly co-led a hearing with subcommittee chairman Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) to assess U.S. and international sanctions against North Korea and China in relation to North Korea’s nuclear missile program, and to push the Administration on its options to expand sanctions. Recently, Donnelly and Senator Ben Sasse continued their calls for sanctions on both North Korea and China designed to crack down on North Korea’s weapons program.
Donnelly said in his speech, in part, “I am here today to urge the White House and the National Security Council to develop and deliver to Congress a clear, comprehensive United States strategy to address the urgent threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear missile program. I have introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, the annual national defense bill that we will consider soon, requiring that strategy within 90 days, and I hope all of my colleagues will support it when the time comes.
“We should be doing everything in our power to do that in a way that will not put America’s sons and daughters, moms and dads, brothers and sisters who make up our nation’s military in harm’s way unnecessarily…There are more than 20,000 U.S. servicemembers in South Korea. At last count, more than three hundred of them were from my home state of Indiana.
“The country is looking for leadership. The world is looking for leadership. Let’s define our objectives based on the best interest and safety of our country and our allies and develop a strategy to achieve it. And let us work together across departments and agencies, across branches of government, and across party lines to get there…There is not a nation on earth that is safer with the existence of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program – and that includes North Korea itself. However hard the path forward may be, I think we can all agree that the status quo is not enough. Is not even close. And will not continue to work. We can’t fix that without a strategy.”
To watch a highlight from the speech, click HERE or on the image above. To view Donnelly’s full remarks, click HERE.
