Ranking Member Shaheen Responds to Ukraine Negotiations and Delivers Opening Remarks at 2025 Halifax International Security Forum

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered opening remarks at the 2025 Halifax International Security Forum. The Ranking Member also rebuked the Trump Administration’s proposed ‘peace deal’ between Russia and Ukraine that serves the interests of Putin and the Kremlin.

You can watch her opening remarks here.

On the proposed ‘peace deal’ between Russia and Ukraine, Ranking Member Shaheen laid out that this deal is far from a compromise, but that it more like a wish list for Putin’s ambitions:

• “That’s not a compromise, that 28-point peace plan. That’s a plan that Russia wrote to benefit Russia. I think most of us would agree that when you do a peace negotiation, everybody has to give something up. But Russia is not giving anything up. We saw what they did we in Georgia in 2008, what they did in Crimea in 2014, we saw them go into Ukraine, and they’re going to continue if we don’t say, ‘enough,’ and put some pressure on them.”
  
  
• “The only thing Vladimir Putin understands is pressure. What President Trump has failed to do is to put pressure on Putin and the Russian regime to force them to come to the table. Other than the sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft, we have done very little to pressure Russia.”
  
  
• “We need to give Ukraine their long-range weapons, more air defenses, we need to give them more planes, and we need to work with Europe to ensure they can face this Russian threat.”
  
  
• “We have a bill in the United States Senate that has over 85 cosponsors, Republican and Democrat – you never get over 85 cosponsors on a bill in the Senate. It would put significant secondary sanctions on those countries that are still doing business with Russia. We need to pass that bill and President Trump has refused month after month to endorse the bill until recently, and we still haven’t taken it up.”
  
  
• “The idea that we’re going to say to NATO that you can’t enlarge any time in the future, when we know there are other countries in Europe that still want to join NATO. Why are we going to handcuff NATO just because Vladimir Putin wants to make sure that Russia is able to continue to pursue its ambitious territorial agenda. I think that is just nuts.”
  
  
• “I certainly do not support this kind of a peace plan and my bet is that a lot of my bipartisan senators who are here members of Congress who have been strongly supportive of Ukraine aren’t going to support it either.”

In Ranking Member Shaheen’s opening remarks, she underscored the importance of forums like Halifax for likeminded democracies to work together.

“Halifax is recognized as a place where democratic nations come together to test assumptions and to confront hard issues openly. The mission of this forum is to strengthen strategic cooperation among the world's democracies,” said Ranking Member Shaheen. “We're here to exchange ideas about our support for Ukraine and increase burden sharing, about pushing our allies to increase their defense and security spending, about the future of Afghanistan, about women, peace and security.”

Ranking Member Shaheen also addressed the strained relationship between the United States and Canada.
“Sadly, our relations, the U.S. and Canada have been strained,” said Ranking Member Shaheen. “We've seen a wedge created between the United States and Canada, where we share deep cultural, political, economic and social bonds.

Finally, Ranking Member Shaheen brought the international security issues that conferences like Halifax address back home to how they impact the American people, including in her home state of New Hampshire.

“For a small state like mine in New Hampshire, the alliances aren't abstract,” said Ranking Member Shaheen. “They protect our shipyard and aerospace workers, our manufacturers, our guard units who deploy alongside our allies. We have made better decisions because we've had these kinds of conversations here in Halifax.”

The Ranking Member’s remarks, as delivered, are below.

Good afternoon, everyone. Let me begin by thanking Peter and everyone at the forum and all of you for the lovely lighthouse. We have lighthouses in New Hampshire too! We also have the shortest coastline of any state in the US. So, I especially appreciate that. It's really wonderful to be here with all of you again. I'm not going to go through the list of all of the honorable officials who are here, but I recognize the contributions that all of you have made.

At a moment when alliances are being questioned, it’s important for American leaders to show up to this forum and to forums like this around the world.

I'm proud to be leading a large bipartisan delegation of senators again. I won't introduce them again since Peter was kind enough to do that, but I will say that we are all here because we believe in the democratic values that Peter and Mr. McGinty, talked about. And also, because we believe in the importance of the U.S.-Canada relationship.

As you heard, I've been coming to this forum every year since 2009 when it began. I missed a couple of years, COVID. But it's been such an honor to be here every year. Halifax is recognized as a place where democratic nations come together to test assumptions and to confront hard issues openly. The mission of this forum is to strengthen strategic cooperation among the world's democracies.

We're here to exchange ideas about our support for Ukraine and increase burden sharing, about pushing our allies to increase their defense and security spending, about the future of Afghanistan, about women, peace and security. We don't always have to agree, but these discussions are fundamental to our decision making. My good friend Thom Tillis talks about this as he talks about his family. That he can disagree with members of his family, but don't let anybody try and come between them.

And I think as democracies, we should take that approach. These discussions are fundamental to our decision-making by stepping outside of information bubbles and hearing dissenting views. That's how democracies make better decisions. It's how we contrast ourselves with authoritarian regimes, and how we avoid the sort of miscalculations that put our people in harm's way.

Now, I agree with, I think, probably everybody in this room: this has been a tough year for democracies, for democratic leaders. Democracies have inherent value. We know that. But they also have to deliver for their people—good jobs, affordability and economic security at home, peace and stability abroad. And we have to articulate why engaging with the world directly supports our goals. That's especially true as we face strategic competition from autocratic regimes like China and Russia.

Our strongest answer to that competition is one advantage authoritarian systems just can't match, and that's our alliances. Many of you know, as you heard, I represent New Hampshire. It's a small state, but we share a very important border with Canada. Sadly, our relations, the U.S. and Canada have been strained.

We've seen a wedge created between the United States and Canada, where we share deep cultural, political, economic and social bonds. In New Hampshire, about a third of our residents came from Canada. But I know from my meetings with foreign leaders and diplomats that our allies are nervous. People wonder, ‘how can the US be relied on? How solid are our alliances?’

I appreciate those concerns as being valid because when support for Ukraine wavers, when tariffs hit some of our closest partners, when diplomacy and predictability take a backseat to short term deals, it's hard for any of us to pretend that we aren't concerned. But we should remember one really important point: alliances are about more than any one leader.

Alliances are relationships that have stood the test of time. We saw that in the video with Gander, with the cooperation on World War II and Korea. Alliances, as I said, have stood the test of time. And most of the people here at this conference have spent years traveling to meetings, building relationships, making friendships. These connections are the foundations of our alliances, and they matter in tangible ways.

And for a small state like mine in New Hampshire, the alliances aren't abstract. They protect our shipyard and aerospace workers, our manufacturers, our guard units who deploy alongside our allies. We have made better decisions because we've had these kinds of conversations here in Halifax.

And since this is my last year leading our bipartisan delegation, I want to just reaffirm how proud I am to have been here for so many years, to have worked with so many of you.

And while U.S. politics is right now more volatile than many of us would like. Our alliances have outlasted our politics in the past, and they will again in the future. Thank you all very much.

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