[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 117 (Thursday, July 24, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H6791]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TRIBUTE TO THE 193 DUTCH NATIONALS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES ON MALAYSIAN 
                           AIRLINES FLIGHT 17

  (Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, as cochair of the Dutch Caucus 
here in the U.S. House of Representatives, I rise today with a heavy 
heart to express our condolences at the tragic loss of life of nearly 
300 people on Malaysian Airlines Flight 17.
  On that flight, there was one American and a number of others from 
Australia, Malaysia, and a number of other countries. But counted among 
those were 193 Dutch nationals. Just to put that in perspective, that 
is like having a country the size of the United States lose over 3,600 
people. That is the impact that it has had with our friends in the 
Netherlands. This attack on innocent civilians can only be described, I 
believe, as an act of terror, as it was flying over Ukrainian airspace.
  We are rising today jointly, in a bipartisan fashion, to express our 
condolences to our friends in the Netherlands. The Netherlands was the 
first nation to ever recognize our Nation, the United States of 
America, officially back during the Revolutionary War. And they have 
been stalwart partners and stalwart friends throughout the history of 
our country.
  With that, I yield to my friend from Maryland.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. I thank my friend and colleague for yielding. I am 
honored to stand with him and all of us in solidarity with the people 
of the Netherlands and the families and loved ones of all the victims 
of that act of terror.
  We look forward to working together to make sure that this situation 
is resolved as quickly as possible and the perpetrators are held 
accountable. I know we all stand together on that as well. And I am 
grateful to my colleague from Michigan for bringing us together for 
this purpose.
  Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, today we humbly ask our 
colleagues to join us in a moment of silence as we pay our respects and 
honor the memory of all 298 passengers aboard MH17 that had their lives 
tragically cut short.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All Members please rise for a moment of 
silence.

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