On ABC's This Week, Sen. Coons calls for bipartisan bill to "show resolve and determination' on Russia for Ukraine conflict

Press Release

On Sunday, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, joined ABC's This Week to discuss Russian aggression against Ukraine as well as voter suppression efforts in states across the country.

On the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Senator Coons said, "the most important thing that President Biden has been doing is to deter Putin from invading Ukraine. He has pulled together our NATO allies in sharp contrast to his predecessor, he's invested time and effort in rebuilding our European partnerships, our North Atlantic alliance. $650 million in military assistance was delivered to Ukraine in the past year and, just this week, another $200 million in ammunition and small arms and javelin missiles and stinger missiles are being delivered. And our close NATO allies like the United Kingdom, Poland, [the Czech Republic], France are delivering materiel as well."

On the approach to U.S. sanctions against Russia, Senator Coons said, "we should take up and pass a bipartisan bill that will show resolve and determination and apply some sanctions now. But the very strongest sanctions, the sorts of sanctions that we use to bring Iran to the table, are something that we should hold out as a deterrent to prevent Putin from taking the last step of invading Ukraine."

On voter suppression and legislative efforts to protect access to the ballot box, Senator Coons said, "We've seen abundant evidence that there are laws being passed that roll back things like ballot drop boxes, drive-through voting, 24-hour early voting, restricting access to the ballot box, particularly for those who in an ongoing pandemic are medically vulnerable, those who are essential workers. We made significant progress in making it easier for folks to vote in the pandemic in 2020. Why would we be rolling that back in a dozen states when the pandemic isn't over? And why would we be erecting new barriers for people to be able to vote?"

Source