[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 33 (Thursday, February 27, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H2009]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            AID FOR UKRAINE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Shimkus) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I first want to recognize Annie Lowrey and 
Michael Gordon--they are reporters from The New York Times--because I 
will summarize their article and plagiarize other portions of it in 
talking about Ukraine.
  The world watched in wonder, concern, excitement, and sometimes 
horror, and marveled at the tenacity and the resiliency of the 
Ukrainian people. However, Ukraine is in desperate need now of billions 
of dollars--and quickly. Its economy is shrinking; its government 
treasury is empty; its foreign exchange funds are low; and its banking 
system is fragile. Which brings us to the point of: What are the next 
steps?
  The first step is for the Ukrainian people to organize an interim 
government. I call upon them to do it as rapidly as they can so that 
the international community has someone then to negotiate with and deal 
with some of these pressing matters, and that they go into a positive 
direction in doing that.
  The second thing is for the capitals of Brussels and Washington, 
D.C., to take immediate action to help offset some of these dire 
financial constraints that Ukraine has.
  I want to applaud Secretary Kerry for already trying to address this 
and floating the idea of $1 billion that would then go to immediate 
aid, and I want to call upon the European Union, headquartered in 
Brussels, and all the individual European countries to do the same. It 
is important now for this financial faith and confidence so that the 
people of Ukraine can continue to move forward and develop some 
financial security in this transitional period.
  This is also critical in that this occurs as a bridge before the 
International Monetary Fund weighs in. The International Monetary Fund 
obviously needs to have a stable government to deal with. It also needs 
to have--and will ask for--reforms, transparency, rule of law, and some 
financial controls to get the ledger solidified in Ukraine, and that is 
what they should do.
  So the important aspect of this debate is that the individual 
countries that have concern about the stability of what were formerly 
called the captive nations, the Eastern Bloc, now countries that want 
to be in the European community of free, democratic institutions, that 
there has to be a bridge so that, obviously, the chaos that has been 
involved in the country of Ukraine will not continue post the departure 
of their President and so that stability can reign.
  I call upon the people of Ukraine to keep the faith and work hard and 
move forward on these reforms. I call on the governments--as I 
mentioned before, my own government, and the governments of the 
European Union--to offer immediate assistance, and I call for the 
International Monetary Fund to move as expeditiously and as quickly as 
possible to help stabilize the situation in Ukraine.

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