Today, the Senate exercises one of our unique and most important constitutional responsibilities, the debate and ratification of a treaty. And the NATO accession treaty for Sweden and Finland is the most consequential kind of treaty because it commits America to the mutual defense of another country. We commit, along with our NATO partners, to come to Sweden and Finland’s defense if they’re attacked, just as Finland and Sweden will come to our defense if we are attacked. It’s a weighty matter,... Read More

Thank you, Michael for the kind introduction and for the invitation to speak today. And I would also like to thank Chairman Willem De Vogel for organizing this event.It’s great to be back at the Jamestown Foundation. For nearly four decades, your organization has advocated a strong, assertive, and decisive American foreign policy. I can think of no better institution with which to discuss the pressing crisis in Ukraine and its implications for our strategy regarding Taiwan.First, I think it’s... Read More

The Senate will soon vote on the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. I will vote against her nomination. Judge Jackson may be a fine woman, but she is a dangerous judge. She built her career as a far-left activist—and it didn’t change when she put on a robe ten years ago. She personifies activism from the bench, she has crusaded to undermine criminal sentences, and she cannot be trusted to interpret the law or the Constitution as... Read More

Thank you, John, for the kind introduction and thank you all for the warm welcome. It’s a great honor to be speaking again at the beautiful Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.It’s sadly fitting that we gather tonight at this monument to the great man who defeated Soviet Russia, brought down the wall, and raised the Iron Curtain. For today, a new Iron Curtain threatens to fall upon Ukraine.I recall the words of President Reagan when the people of Poland resisted the same brutal aggressor. “There... Read More

Inflation is at its highest level in 40 years. Drug overdose deaths and illegal border crossings are at record levels. The murder rate is the highest since the 1990s. Russian troops are massing on Ukraine's border, and the President of the United States just greenlighted Vladimir Putin to invade. And China is continuing its aggression.So what have the Democratic floor leader and the  Senate Democrats spent the last two months doing? Trying to overturn 200 years of Senate rules and customs... Read More

“Right now, we are on the precipice of a constitutional crisis. We are about to step into the abyss. I want to talk for a few minutes why we are on that precipice and why we are looking into that abyss.“Let me first ask a fundamental question: What is the crisis that calls for the undoing of two centuries of tradition? … Are … Senators merely doing their jobs as legislators, responding to a generalized public calling for the abolition of the filibuster? Clearly not. It is not the American people... Read More

Twenty years ago this week, the People’s Republic of China became a member of the World Trade Organization. And there was great rejoicing across Washington by lobbyists, politicians, and bureaucrats, and for that matter among corporate CEOs and Wall Street bankers, and, perhaps most of all, the communists in Beijing.But for Americans in the heartland in places like Arkansas, China’s entrance into the WTO was nothing to celebrate. That was the moment their leaders left them exposed to the... Read More

Today, my fellow Senators and I are introducing the Taylor Force Martyr Payment Prevention Act.This bill is named after Taylor Force, who was killed in a Hamas stabbing spree while studying abroad in Tel Aviv in 2016. Taylor was a West Point graduate and Army veteran who was studying for his MBA. Terrorism took this fine young man and his future from our nation.Instead of condemning this wanton slaughter, the Palestinian Authority sent money to the murderer’s family. This is part of a grotesque... Read More

In a couple hours Senator Schumer is bringing to the floor one of the most dangerous pro-crime, anti-cop U.S. nominees in American history. The Senate floor leader wants to ram through President Biden’s extreme nominee to be the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts; the current Suffolk County District Attorney, Rachael Rollins. In doing so, the Democrats are showing that they don’t care about crime as a crime wave crashes across the country, they do not support law enforcement, and they have a wanton... Read More

Good morning. In less than three months, the Winter Olympics will begin in Beijing. According to media reports, the Biden administration is prepared to announce a diplomatic boycott. This is the least, the absolute bare minimum, that any civilized nation would do for these genocide Olympics.I’m here today to call on the Biden administration to mount a complete and total boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics. No athletes. No administration officials. No corporate sponsors. I call for this... Read More

Thank you for the warm welcome. It’s great to be back with the Federalist Society and to be in such esteemed, august company. I think at least half the audience tonight are federal judges—and, God willing, the other half will be soon. For all you hopeful jurists, I’ll give you an inside tip on the easiest way to become a federal judge: be sure your law-school roommate is a future U.S. senator.Welcome back to Washington for the first time in two years. But before I go any further, a land... Read More

Last night, the American people sent an unmistakable message to the Democratic Party; we don’t like your agenda, we don’t want your agenda, and we won’t vote for your agenda or for you. During this election, the Democratic Party was exposed for what it has become: a party that holds police, parents, and patriotism in contempt. And now the Democrats have paid the price. The Democrats will continue to pay that price until they reject the repugnant radicalism that has infected their party.The... Read More

Last week, President Biden went to the United Nations and he announced his capitulation to the Chinese Communist Party.The message was clear from what he did—and did not—say.In Joe Biden’s 30-minute-long monologue on the state of the world, he never once even said the name of the world’s greatest threat to peace, stability, and democracy: China. Never said it once. He refused to even say the word China. Nor did he mention Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan—or practically any of the victims of... Read More

The United States has suffered a grave national humiliation in Afghanistan. President Biden’s disastrous withdrawal has brought shame to a nation that fought, bled, and sacrificed for two long decades after September 11. Defeat can be imposed by an enemy but humiliation is self-inflicted—and in this case it was inflicted on America by the President of the United States.To the thousands of Americans who fought bravely in Afghanistan, I share your dismay and I want to tell you: this was not your... Read More

After Joe Biden’s disastrous retreat from Afghanistan, the country has fallen to a medieval band of degenerate savages known as the Taliban. Despite its depraved behavior, you won’t hear anyone in our government call the Taliban what it is: a terrorist organization. Instead, Secretary of State Blinken has said, for example, that the Taliban, “does not meet the test of inclusivity.” It’s as if the Biden administration is more concerned that the Taliban is led by men than that it’s led by... Read More

Thank you, it’s an honor to address the National Right to Life Committee, the nation’s oldest pro-life organization and a true beacon of moral clarity.I’d like to extend special recognition and thanks to Carol for inviting me to speak this evening. I’d also like to recognize my home state’s chapter—where are you out there? There you are!, Arkansas Right to Life has helped turn Arkansas into one of the most pro-life states in the union.We regret that our legendary leader, Rose Mimms, couldn’t be... Read More

Thank you, Reihan, for those kind words and for the invitation to speak today. I’m also grateful to the Manhattan Institute and National Press Club for hosting.And I would like to recognize Paul Singer and Roger Hertog, who generously support the Manhattan Institute’s important work.Five years ago, I spoke at some length on the subject of crime and violence in our streets. At the time, our nation was in the grips of the Obama crime wave of 2015-2016. We experienced the steepest two-year increase... Read More

Huawei is no ordinary phone company. It is the eyes and ears of the Chinese Communist Party.According to the Department of Defense, Huawei is a “Communist Chinese military company” that’s controlled by the People’s Liberation Army.A former officer of the PLA founded Huawei. Huawei is built upon stolen technology from American companies like Cisco. And it’s engaged in espionage all around the world on behalf of its masters in Beijing.Which raises some important questions. Should American citizens... Read More

The Democrats’ want to call their voting bill the For the People Act, but I would suggest you not be fooled by the marketing—this bill has nothing to offer for the people of our country. The so-called For the People Act is in fact a partisan takeover of our elections that seeks a government “of the Democrats, by the Democrats, and for the Democrats.” So, it’s no wonder it’s their very top priority and it’s literally the first bill filed in both the House and the Senate this year.If this bill... Read More

Eight short months from now, the greatest athletes in the world will gather together and compete in the 24th Olympic Winter Games. Usually, Americans await this awe-inspiring event with enthusiasm and excitement. This year, though, we await it with apprehension and, frankly, disgust.That’s because next year’s Games will be held in the People’s Republic of China, a communist nation that enslaves workers, puts women and children in concentration camps, sterilizes women, and unleashed a... Read More