[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 54 (Wednesday, April 13, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2457-S2458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  REMEMBERING THE 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE 2010 POLAND PRESIDENTIAL 
                              PLANE CRASH

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration 
and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 135.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the title of the resolution.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 135) remembering the 1-year 
     anniversary of the April 10, 2010, plane crash that claimed 
     the lives of the President of Poland Lech Kaczynski, his 
     wife, and 94 others, while they were en route to memorialize 
     those Polish officers, officials, and civilians who were 
     massacred by the Soviet Union in 1940.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed 
to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid 
upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 135) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 135

       Whereas, on April 10, 2010, the President of the Republic 
     of Poland Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, and a cadre of 
     current and former Polish statesmen, military officers, 
     family members, and others departed Warsaw by plane to travel 
     to the Russian region of Smolensk;
       Whereas the purpose of the delegation's visit was to hold a 
     ceremony in solemn remembrance of the more than 22,000 Polish 
     military officers, police officers, judges, other government 
     officials, and civilians who were executed by the Soviet 
     secret police, the ``NKVD'', between April 3 and the end of 
     May 1940;
       Whereas more than 14,500 Polish victims of such executions 
     have been documented at 3 sites in Katyn (in present day 
     Belarus), in Miednoye (in present day Russia), and in Kharkiv 
     (in present day Ukraine), while the remains of an estimated 
     7,000 such Polish victims have yet to be precisely located;
       Whereas the plane carrying the Polish delegation on April 
     10, 2010, crashed in Smolensk, tragically killing all 96 
     persons on board;
       Whereas Poland has been a leading member of the 
     transatlantic community and the North Atlantic Treaty 
     Organization (NATO), an Alliance vital to the interests of 
     the United States, and Poland's membership in the Alliance 
     has strengthened NATO;
       Whereas the Polish armed forces have stood shoulder-to-
     shoulder and sacrificed with airmen, marines, sailors, and 
     soldiers of the United States in Iraq, Afghanistan, the 
     Balkans, and around the world;
       Whereas Poland has been a leader in the promotion of human 
     rights, not just in Central Europe, but elsewhere around the 
     world; and
       Whereas the deep friendship between the governments and 
     people of Poland and the United States is grounded in our 
     mutual respect, shared values, and common priorities on 
     nuclear nonproliferation, counterterrorism, human rights, 
     regional cooperation in Eastern Europe, democratization, and 
     international development: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) remembers the terrible tragedy that took place on April 
     10, 2010, when an aircraft

[[Page S2458]]

     carrying a delegation of current and former Polish officials, 
     family members, and others crashed en route from Warsaw to 
     Smolensk to memorialize the 1940 Katyn massacres, killing all 
     96 passengers;
       (2) honors the memories of all Poles executed by the NKVD 
     at Katyn, Miednoye, Khakriv, and elsewhere and those who 
     perished in the April 10, 2010, plane crash;
       (3) expresses continuing sympathy for the surviving family 
     members of those who perished in the tragic plane crash of 
     April 10, 2010;
       (4) recognizes and respects the resilience of Poland's 
     constitution, as demonstrated by the smooth and stable 
     transfer of constitutional authority that occurred in the 
     immediate aftermath of the April 10, 2010, tragedy; and
       (5) requests that the Secretary of the Senate transmit an 
     enrolled copy of this resolution to the Ambassador of Poland 
     to the United States.

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