[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 48 (Monday, March 23, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H1824-H1829]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                PROVIDING MILITARY ASSISTANCE TO UKRAINE

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree 
to the resolution (H. Res. 162) calling on the President to provide 
Ukraine with military assistance to defend its sovereignty and 
territorial integrity.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

[[Page H1825]]

                              H. Res. 162

       Whereas the existence of an independent, democratic, and 
     prosperous Ukraine is in the national interest of the United 
     States;
       Whereas the Russian Federation under President Vladimir 
     Putin has engaged in relentless political, economic, and 
     military aggression to subvert the independence and violate 
     the territorial integrity of Ukraine;
       Whereas this aggression includes the illegal and forcible 
     occupation of Crimea by Russian military and security forces;
       Whereas this Russian aggression includes the establishment 
     and control of violent separatist proxies in other areas of 
     Ukraine, including arming them with lethal weapons and other 
     materiel including tanks, artillery, and rockets that have 
     enabled separatist militias to launch and sustain an 
     insurrection that has resulted in over 6,000 dead, 15,000 
     wounded, and more than a million displaced persons;
       Whereas military and security forces of the Russian 
     Federation have been infiltrated into these areas of Ukraine 
     and continue to provide direct combat support to the 
     separatist groups in this conflict;
       Whereas failure to stop this aggression by the Russian 
     Federation against Ukraine, especially its unprovoked and 
     armed intervention in a sovereign country, illegal and 
     forcible occupation of its territory, and unilateral efforts 
     to redraw the internationally-recognized borders of Ukraine 
     undermines the foundation of the international order that was 
     established and has been defended at great cost by the United 
     States and its allies in the aftermath of World War II;
       Whereas Russian aggression against Ukraine is but the most 
     visible and recent manifestation of a revisionist Kremlin 
     strategy to redraw international borders and impose its will 
     on its neighbors, including NATO allies;
       Whereas on September 18, 2014, President Petro Poroshenko 
     addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress at which he thanked the 
     United States for the military assistance it has provided to 
     defend the freedom and territorial integrity of his country 
     and asked for ``both non-lethal and lethal'' military 
     assistance, stating that ``one cannot win a war with 
     blankets'';
       Whereas the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General 
     Martin Dempsey stated on March 3, 2015, that ``we should 
     absolutely consider providing lethal aid'' to Ukraine;
       Whereas Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter stated on 
     February 4, 2015, during his confirmation hearing that he is 
     ``very much inclined'' toward providing Ukraine with weapons 
     to defend itself;
       Whereas Congress provided the President with the 
     authorization and budgetary resources to provide Ukraine with 
     military assistance to enhance its ability to defend its 
     sovereign territory from the unprovoked and continuing 
     aggression of the Russian Federation, including in the 
     Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014, which was signed into 
     law on December 18, 2014;
       Whereas the Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014 
     specifically authorizes the provision of anti-armor weapons, 
     crew-served weapons and ammunition, counter-artillery radars, 
     fire control, range finder, and optical and guidance and 
     control equipment, tactical troop-operated surveillance 
     drones, and secure command and communications equipment;
       Whereas even as it faces a massive military assault, 
     Ukraine is confronting an economic crisis that requires both 
     long-term financial and technical assistance by the United 
     States and the international community, especially the 
     countries of the European Union and the International 
     Monetary Fund, as well as fundamental economic and political 
     reforms by the government of Ukraine;
       Whereas the United States and its allies should provide 
     assistance to support energy diversification and efficiency 
     initiatives in Ukraine to lessen its vulnerability to 
     coercion by the Russian Federation;
       Whereas the United States and its allies should continue to 
     work with Ukrainian officials to develop plans to increase 
     energy production and efficiency in order to increase energy 
     security beyond the short-term;
       Whereas the United States, in close cooperation with 
     international donors, has provided Ukraine with macro-
     economic assistance to boost Ukraine's economy; and
       Whereas the United States and its allies need a long-term 
     strategy to expose and challenge Vladimir Putin's corruption 
     and repression at home and his aggression abroad: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives strongly urges 
     the President to fully and immediately exercise the 
     authorities provided by Congress to provide Ukraine with 
     lethal defensive weapon systems to enhance the ability of the 
     people of Ukraine to defend their sovereign territory from 
     the unprovoked and continuing aggression of the Russian 
     Federation.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida.


                             General Leave

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on this resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, as always, Mr. Royce, the chairman of our Committee on 
Foreign Affairs, appreciates Ranking Member Eliot Engel of New York's 
leadership in support of the people of Ukraine.
  Last week, March 18, Mr. Speaker, marked the 1-year anniversary of 
Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion and occupation of Crimea.
  During the past year, Russia has strengthened its hold over the 
peninsula, expanded its military presence, and increased its oppression 
of the minority Tatar population and others who refuse to bend to its 
occupation.
  Putin's success in Crimea emboldened him to expand his aggression 
into eastern Ukraine. Last April, Chairman Ed Royce of California, 
chairman of our committee, led a delegation to Ukraine and traveled to 
the Russian-speaking east.
  The many Ukrainians that Ranking Member Engel and Mr. Royce met with 
wanted to be Ukrainians, not separatists; yet Moscow moved from 
forcibly seizing Crimea to aggressively supporting militant separatists 
in eastern Ukraine.
  Today, Mr. Speaker, the conflict in the east has resulted in over 
6,000 deaths, at least 15,000 wounded, and more than 1 million 
displaced persons.
  This carnage is the work of the separatist forces controlled by 
Moscow, which has supplied them with massive amounts of weapons and has 
even sent in Russian military forces in combat-supporting roles.
  As Assistant Secretary Victoria Nuland testified before the Foreign 
Affairs Committee this month, Russia ``has thousands and thousands'' of 
soldiers operating in Ukraine. As she summed up:

       This is a manufactured conflict controlled by the Kremlin, 
     fueled by Russian tanks and heavy weapons, financed at 
     Russian taxpayers' expense.

  Mr. Speaker, the administration's response to this crisis has been 
tepid at best. Six months ago, the President of Ukraine stood in this 
very Chamber and, while thanking the United States for our assistance 
so far, asked for defensive weapons to enable Ukraine to defend itself 
against superior forces. Pointedly, he told both Houses of Congress, 
``One cannot win a war with blankets,'' which is what we are providing.
  Earlier this month, Members met with the First Deputy Speaker of the 
Ukrainian parliament, who said that his country urgently needs antitank 
weapons, such as the Javelin; radar to pinpoint enemy fire; and 
communications equipment to overcome Russian jamming.
  Ukrainian forces cannot match the advanced equipment that Russia is 
pouring into eastern Ukraine. There is no shortage of the will to 
fight, only a shortage of defensive weapons.
  Legal authority for such assistance was made crystal clear by the 
Congress in December by passing the Ukraine Freedom Support Act. Top 
administration officials, including Secretary of Defense Carter and 
Chairman Dempsey of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have indicated support; 
indeed, this weekend, NATO's top military commander asked: Is inaction 
an appropriate action? We know his answer is ``no.''
  Unfortunately, for Ukrainians and for international security, 
President Obama has chosen inaction in the guise of endless 
deliberation; but there is far more at stake here than the fate of 
Ukraine, Mr. Speaker.
  This unprovoked attack on a peaceful country, the forcible occupation 
of its territory, and an effort to unilaterally redraw its 
internationally recognized borders will undermine the foundation of the 
international order that was established and has been defended at great 
cost by the United States and our allies.
  The world is closely watching what we will do to help Ukraine defend 
itself from outright assault. If it is too little, too late, those with 
designs on a neighboring country will feel all that more emboldened.
  The people of Ukraine are not asking for us to fight for them. They 
are only

[[Page H1826]]

asking for the weapons they need to defend themselves.
  I ask our colleagues to vote for this bipartisan resolution urging 
the administration to provide this critical assistance to Ukraine 
before it is, indeed, too late.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution, 
and I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  First of all, I want to, again, thank our chairman emeritus of the 
Foreign Affairs Committee, my dear friend from Florida Ileana Ros-
Lehtinen, who is very eloquent. I want to stand by every word she 
uttered. I agree with her 100 percent.
  I want to also thank our chairman, Ed Royce, who also has been 
steadfast in fighting for the freedom for the people of Ukraine, and it 
has been a pleasure to work with him on a bipartisan basis.
  This is a bipartisan issue. Policy like this should not be partisan, 
and that is why we are rising today, as Democrats and Republicans--
really, as Americans--to say enough is enough in Ukraine.
  As I have been saying for months, we cannot view the crisis in 
Ukraine as just some faraway conflict or someone else's problem. This 
war has left thousands dead, tens of thousands wounded, a million 
displaced, and has begun to threaten the post-cold war stability of 
Europe. In fact, Mr. Putin is knocking us back into the cold war, the 
bad old days of the cold war.
  The battle is being waged in the haze of a massive, Kremlin-backed 
propaganda campaign aimed at eroding confidence in the West and 
democratic institutions, the same propaganda permeating allied 
countries on the Russian frontier that we are treaty-bound to defend.
  Under the corrupt and repressive rule of Vladimir Putin, Russia has 
become a clear threat to a half century of American commitment to and 
investment in a Europe that is whole, free, and at peace, a Europe 
where borders are not changed by force.
  What Putin is doing is he is changing borders by force on the 
continent of Europe for the first time since World War II. This cannot 
stand. The United States cannot turn a blind eye to it. The United 
States cannot put its head in the sand and act like any other country 
and pretend that maybe this will go away.
  In 1938, another dictator named Adolf Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia 
and said he was going into the Sudetenland to protect ethnic Germans. 
Mr. Putin said the same thing about Crimea. He was going into Crimea to 
prevent the hurt of ethnic Russians--same nonsense.
  Hitler got away with it in 1938, and there were people who said: 
Well, you know, if we just give him the Sudetenland, he will be happy. 
He will be content. He will leave us alone. His aggression will stop.
  Some people today are saying the same thing: Just give Putin Crimea. 
Just give Putin a little bit of the eastern part of Ukraine, and he 
will be happy. He will go away. He won't threaten anything else.

                              {time}  1700

  You don't satiate a bully by giving him what he wants early on 
because it only whets his appetite for worse things to come; and at the 
point later on when you have to go at the bully, it will be much, much 
harder to defeat him, to stop him than it was if you had simply stood 
up to him when he started his aggression. This is what is happening now 
in Ukraine.
  This war poses the greatest threat to European security since World 
War II, and we shouldn't take it lightly. We shouldn't be idle; we 
shouldn't sit back, and we shouldn't let other countries tell us what 
to do.
  Last year, Ukraine President Poroshenko stood in this very Chamber at 
a joint session of Congress and related the challenges facing the 
people of Ukraine. They desire to reclaim their dignity and rebuild 
their country's future. He asked that we help the men and women 
fighting a war against a neighbor that they had once looked to as a 
friend. He told us they needed defensive weapons. They needed weapons. 
He said that the blankets that we are sending do not win a war.
  Last month, I saw President Poroshenko again, in Europe. And he again 
pled for military assistance--not to attack Moscow, not to defeat the 
Russian army, not even to push the Russians out of Ukrainian territory, 
but simply to hold the line, to slow Russia's advance, and to give his 
government breathing room to focus on other threats, such as keeping 
the Ukrainian economy afloat.
  Mr. Speaker, we cannot allow Europe's border lands to once again 
become Europe's blood lands. Fortunately, there is still time for the 
United States to act in a moderate but decisive fashion to help Ukraine 
defend itself, to limit Russia's ability to further destabilize our 
friends and allies and our friends in Ukraine, in particular, and to 
safeguard our interests and defend our values across this region.
  All the countries--and some of them NATO members, some of them not; 
some of them part of the former Soviet Union, some of them not; some of 
them former Eastern Bloc nations, some of them not--all of the ones 
that border on Russia are all worrying because they think that if Putin 
can get away with what he wants to get away with in Ukraine, will they 
be next.
  The United States is not being asked to send ground troops to 
Ukraine. The United States is not being asked to get itself involved in 
another war. We are simply being asked to give the Ukrainians methods 
to defend themselves, the weapons to defend themselves. I can't think 
of anything more reasonable.
  We have held hearings on Ukraine. We have passed resolutions of 
support. We have sent legislation to the President's desk. It was the 
last thing we passed in the last Congress. The President signed it into 
law, authorizing an array of assistance, including the defensive arms 
Ukraine so desperately needs. And here we are again to renew this call, 
to remind the people of Ukraine that they are not alone, and to send an 
unambiguous message to the administration, to the President, and to our 
allies in Europe that the time has come to do more. We must meet this 
threat together because we all have a stake in how this ends.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Ms. Ros-Lehtinen and Chairman Royce.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield the remainder of my time to 
the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) and ask unanimous consent 
that he be allowed to control that time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ROYCE. I thank the gentlelady for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, as my good friend Eliot Engel from New York explained, 
last April, we took a delegation to Ukraine, not just to the western 
part of the country, but, most importantly, we went to the east. We 
went to Dnipropetrovs'k. We went as far east as we could go, up against 
the border there of Donets'k and Luhans'k.
  We had an opportunity to have a dialogue with the Ukrainian people. 
We reached out to civil society. We set up meetings with women's groups 
and lawyers' groups. And across the spectrum in eastern Ukraine, 
speaking to Russian-speaking Ukrainians, we got, I believe, a good idea 
of what was on their minds--I think there were about eight members of 
our delegation--and they were sharing with us these words:
  What Putin is doing, what the Russians are doing right now is going 
out on the Internet and recruiting every skinhead and malcontent in the 
Russian-speaking region that they can find. And then they train these 
young men, and then they send them over the border to create mayhem. 
And what we are trying to do here--this was the explanation from the 
Ukrainians--we are trying to catch them. They speak with a different 
accent than we do, so we can catch them, and we try to hold them until 
this war is over. But increasingly, we find that what is happening is 
that the Russians are sending their own troops over. They are sending 
their own armor. They are sending over military equipment that we 
cannot defend against.
  And what they said to us is: We are not asking you for your 
assistance in this fight. All we are asking is that we might have the 
defensive weapons to check this assault so that we can defend ourselves 
in this city. We need antitank weapons.

[[Page H1827]]

  You and I know, by the way, Mr. Speaker, that when those tanks come, 
those are not going to be Ukrainian separatists driving those tanks. 
Those are going to be Russian tankers in those tanks.
  So this is what they are asking us for, and they have asked for month 
after month after month in order to set up a strategy that would cause 
the Russians to believe there were some kind of credible deterrence. 
But instead, we now see that Russia may try to secure a land bridge to 
Crimea. In other words, this conflict might escalate because of 
additional Russian aggression. Or they might seize strategic ports 
along the Black Sea, additional ports.
  You have 6,000 people so far that have lost their lives--that I know 
of in the conflict, from the reports I have read. You have 1 million 
Ukrainians that have been made refugees, that have pulled west out of 
the area. And obviously, to date, the actions taken by the U.S. and our 
EU allies, including economic sanctions and aid and diplomatic 
isolation--all of the talk, none of that has checked Russian 
aggression--or, I should say, Putin's aggression here. And over the 
past year, he has clearly become bolder, even menacing NATO countries, 
as he seeks to divide the alliance.
  Now, the Obama administration and our European allies have put hope 
in diplomatic and cease-fire arrangements, but, frankly, that is not 
working. So we come back to the request.
  And this month, we met with the first deputy speaker of the Ukrainian 
Parliament, as Eliot Engel shared here today on the floor, who said 
that his country urgently needs antitank weapons, such as the Javelin, 
and radar to pinpoint enemy artillery fire that is coming into their 
towns and communications equipment to overcome Russian jamming. That is 
the request. Ukrainian forces cannot match the advanced equipment that 
Russia is pouring into eastern Ukraine.
  And there is no shortage of the will here on the part of the 
Ukrainians. We saw many volunteers in their local militia there in 
Dnipropetrovs'k taking up their position, but what they have is a 
shortage of defensive weapons.

  At this committee's hearing last month, Secretary Kerry said that the 
Obama administration has still not made a decision on whether to send 
defensive lethal military aid to Ukraine 6 months--this is 6 months--
after President Poroshenko told us, as we sat here in this joint 
session of Congress to hear his remarks, that one cannot win the war 
with blankets.
  So we are at a turning point, and I think I agree with the gentleman 
from New York (Mr. Engel) on this. It is one of historic importance. If 
we allow aggression against Ukraine to stand without us at least 
offering the Ukrainians the ability to defend themselves, we will 
signal to the world that our willingness to defend the post-World War 
II international order is crumbling. The semblance of rules the world 
has abided by will be severely weakened. The result could usher in an 
era of instability and conflict in many regions, with consequences no 
one can predict. Or we can allow the Ukrainians to defend themselves, 
and that is what we do with this legislation.
  The Ukrainian people are asking for our help to stop Russia's efforts 
to sever their country. They are not asking us to do any of the 
fighting for them. They are only asking us for the defensive weapons 
that they need to defend themselves. And by passing this bipartisan 
resolution overwhelmingly, the House will send a strong message to the 
administration that it must act quickly and decisively if the U.S. is 
to help the Ukrainian people save their country.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield 4 minutes to 
my good friend from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the Democratic whip.
  (Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution 
offered by my friend, the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs 
Committee, and supported strongly by the chairman of the committee and 
the former chair of the committee, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen.
  This resolution is bipartisan and reflects the will of Congress that 
the nation of Ukraine deserves every opportunity to chart a future 
based on democracy, territorial integrity, and freedom from Russian 
aggression.
  I am the former chairman of the Commission on Security and 
Cooperation in Europe, signed in Helsinki in August of 1975. In that 
agreement, the then-Soviet Union and 34 other nations signed a document 
which said that you could not change borders by other than peaceful 
means.
  Vladimir Putin has broken that agreement, but he has also broken the 
agreement that, in 1994, we entered into with Ukraine in consideration 
of their giving up their nuclear weapons. Vladimir Putin has sent 
Russian troops into another nation. He has tried to mask it. He has 
tried the pretense that this is simply separatists who are active; but, 
very frankly, those troops in Ukraine have admitted to the press that 
they are from Russia.
  Vladimir Putin's support for violent separatists has destabilized a 
large region in eastern Ukraine and has led to the illegal--illegal--
Russian occupation of Crimea. And the world hasn't done much to 
discourage not only the actions of Mr. Putin, but others who would 
learn the lessons of his actions.
  The sanctions that the United States and its allies have imposed 
against Putin and his closest supporters, as well as measures to 
isolate Russian businesses that have enabled this aggression, are 
having serious effects, but not yet the effect that we want.
  I believe that our Nation also has a responsibility to stand 
shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of Ukraine and their 
democratically elected government by sending them the tools they need 
to defend themselves. This is not a new position for me. When the Serbs 
effected a genocide in Bosnia Herzegovina, we had an arms embargo on 
the people of Bosnia while arms were flowing in from other parts of the 
world to Serbia. I thought that was wrong.
  I think today the unwillingness or inability to create a consensus 
for giving to a people the ability to defend themselves is not good 
policy. If we continue to do so, there is no doubt in my mind that Mr. 
Putin will continue on his path of aggression and acquisition.
  Mr. Speaker, we must continue to support Ukraine on its march towards 
greater democracy, stronger human rights, and a brighter future for its 
people. I urge my colleagues to join in supporting this resolution.

                              {time}  1715

  Mr. ROYCE. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Frelinghuysen).
  Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding and 
for his sponsorship of this resolution with Mr. Engel and Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen.
  Mr. Speaker, ISIL is on the march. Civil war appears imminent in 
Yemen. Libya has now become a full-fledged terrorist training center 
threatening all of north Africa. And Iran moves closer to nuclear 
capacity every day. So it is understandable that the attention of the 
media and the American people seem to be focused elsewhere other than 
on Ukraine.
  But I just returned a week ago from leading a bipartisan delegation 
of the Defense Appropriations Committee to Ukraine, and I am here to 
report that the situation there is downright alarming.
  Today, weeks after agreeing to a cease-fire, Vladimir Putin is using 
Ukraine as a test bed for a new type of warfare by using proxy 
insurgents and Russian special forces, army troops, to carry out his 
campaign to reclaim Ukraine as part of the old Russian empire. After 
annexing Crimea a year ago, he is transforming that peninsula into a 
heavily armed Russian camp--a platform indeed.
  Mr. Speaker, blankets, night-vision goggles, and meals that are ready 
to eat are not enough. Ukraine needs non-NATO ally military support, 
and it needs it now.
  Ukraine's courageous President, Petro Poroshenko, appealed to us 
again to provide lethal weaponry--antitank weapons, small arms, and 
antiaircraft systems--to help them defend their territory from the 
Russian onslaught. It is all about preserving and protecting Ukraine's 
independence. That is what this is all about: the largest country in 
Europe. He knows he cannot win a war against Russia, but he believes 
that the

[[Page H1828]]

lethal support will at least raise the price of aggression for Russia.
  I think our committee tends to agree. Our delegation left Kiev 
believing that the future of Ukraine is a matter of significant 
importance to the national security of these United States.
  My colleagues, Western and Eastern Europeans are watching intensely 
with apprehension how our President responds. They are looking closely, 
as are our adversaries and the Russian leadership. What future steps 
will they take if we do not act now?
  Mr. Speaker, I urge the House to show the leadership, our President, 
and this administration that this resolution makes sense. They need to 
give Ukraine this non-NATO ally support, and they need to do it now.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. David Scott), my good friend.
  Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Ladies and gentlemen, on the bleached 
bones of many past great nations are written those pathetic words: Too 
late. Too late. We moved too late to save them.
  History is cluttered with them. We are almost at that point with 
Ukraine. Anyone who has followed the Russian model under Putin knows 
full well what his aim is to reclaim that territory, that empire, of 
the old Soviet Union. Now, if Ukraine goes, what happens to Lithuania, 
Estonia, and Latvia? And just today in the news we hear where Russia 
has threatened a nuclear response, I believe it is, to Denmark.
  Now, what is happening in the world? The world now is a very dark, a 
very dangerous, and a very evil place. And when those three things get 
together, there must be that shining light on the hill that shows the 
way out of the darkness. Throughout history, that light has been the 
United States of America.
  We must act here. Let us hope that President Obama will hear our plea 
as Democrats and as Republicans. We have got to help save Ukraine from 
Russia.
  I serve on the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. For 12 years I have 
served on NATO. I have served as the chairman of the Science and 
Technology Committee.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. ENGEL. I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.
  Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. I am here to tell you, ladies and 
gentlemen, if we don't act here, there will be a devastation on the 
European continent the likes of which we have not seen since World War 
II. We don't need to repeat that. Let us rise to this occasion. Let us 
do the right thing. Let us be that shining light on the hill that shows 
the way out of this darkness.
  Mr. Speaker, there are some times in life you have just got to stand 
up to the bully. The United States must stand up to Putin and let him 
know that there is a light in this world, and the United States is 
going to show the way. The best way to do that today is to pass this 
resolution, and let's send Ukraine the military help that they need to 
protect themselves and the legacy of this fine country.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the right to close.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I will close now, and I yield myself such 
time as I may consume.
  Let me say that by passing this resolution, the House sends a clear 
message of support and solidarity to the people of Ukraine. It is past 
time that our government does more to help these true friends of 
liberty defend their land and deter aggression. I know that if the 
United States shows leadership here, others will follow.
  I am very pleased to be the primary sponsor of this important 
resolution. I thank Chairman Royce for working with me on this. The two 
of us have worked very, very closely together, particularly on Ukraine, 
and we both feel very, very strongly. I agree with every comment that 
was uttered today by all the people speaking on this resolution.
  We are the United States of America. We are a beacon of freedom to 
the world, and if we don't act now, who will? Again, let me reiterate: 
the people of Ukraine are not looking for American troops, and they are 
not looking for American boots on the ground. There is no slippery 
slope here. They are just looking for the weapons to defend themselves. 
They don't have those weapons. We do. If we care about freedom and we 
care about fighting aggression, we need to give the people of Ukraine 
the right and the means to defend themselves. Mr. Speaker, I urge my 
colleagues to support this very important resolution.
  I again thank Chairman Royce, and I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I would just go to the words that Mr. David Scott 
reminded us that echo down through history: Too late. Too late.
  We have given the authority to the administration many months ago to 
transfer defensive weapons to Ukraine that can be used to check further 
aggression. That has not happened. This bipartisan resolution will 
direct the administration to take that step so that Ukrainians can 
defend themselves.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to vote for this bipartisan 
resolution urging the administration to provide this crucial assistance 
to Ukraine before it is, in fact, too late for the Ukrainians to defend 
themselves.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 162, 
a resolution which urges the President to utilize his authority, 
granted by Congress in December of last year, to begin providing 
military aid to the government of Ukraine.
  Since the February 2014 Revolution in which the corrupt then-
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych fled the country, the Russian 
Federation has made every effort through political, economic, and 
military means to subvert both the independence and the democratic 
aspirations of the Ukrainian people.
  I strongly support the current policy of the United States not to 
recognize the absorption of Crimea into Russia through referendum--a 
referendum that took place against the backdrop of masked gunmen, 
widely believed to be unmarked Russian special forces, commandeering 
Crimean government buildings and intimidating voters.
  In a recently aired Russian television documentary, President Putin 
acknowledges that plans were already in place to reabsorb Crimea into 
Russian territory weeks before the March 2014 referendum was held.
  Russia has covertly infiltrated sovereign Ukrainian territory 
repeatedly, providing tanks, artillery, and rockets to separatist 
militias, which has resulted in a conflict leaving over 6,000 dead, 
15,000 wounded, and more than a million displaced persons.
  Mr. Speaker, Russia is openly breeding opposition to Ukrainian 
democracy through its veiled support of separatists, who on July 17, 
2014, destroyed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, a civilian airliner, 
utilizing a Russian-made missile which took the lives of all 298 
innocent persons on board.
  The United States has already made available to Ukraine economic and 
non-lethal equipment meant to shore up the country from Russian-backed 
rebels.
  However, it is clear now that Russia has no intention of ceasing 
aggression against the democratic government of Ukraine.
  The time has come for the United States to provide military aid to 
Ukraine to shore up its military, a military under assault by these 
Russian-backed separatists who have repeatedly broken their promises 
for a ceasefire against the democratic nation of Ukraine.
  This military aid was requested by Ukraine's democratically elected 
president Petro Poroshenko, in a joint meeting of Congress on September 
14, 2014, and is endorsed by both Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 
Martin Dempsey and Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.
  Mr. Speaker, the United States has no intention of allowing Russia to 
redraw international borders as it pleases and subverting the democracy 
of our Ukrainian ally.
  That is why I strongly support this resolution giving President Obama 
explicit authorization to provide military aid to the Ukrainian 
government.
  With this aid, the United States is affirming its continued support 
of the Government of Ukrainian in its struggle to resist this heinous 
aggression from Russia.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask all Members to join me in voting for this 
resolution.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support this bipartisan resolution 
urging the President to provide defensive weapons to Ukraine.
  This week marks the one-year anniversary of Russia's annexation of 
Crimea and it has been almost a year-and-half since the protests in 
Maidan where the Ukrainian people stood together demanding a democratic 
and sovereign state. This past year-and-half has been a somber time for 
all of us, as we learn of the 6,000 deaths, the millions of wounded and 
displaced, and the enormous suffering endured by the Ukrainian people.

[[Page H1829]]

  Now more than ever, the United States needs to stand with Ukraine by 
providing defensive weapons to help Ukraine counter Russian aggression 
and move past the current crisis. We should provide defense provisions, 
such as anti-tank weapons, counter-artillery radars, and ammunition to 
counter Russia-backed separatists. In doing so, we show solidarity with 
the Ukrainian people who have demonstrated their willingness to do 
their part, and we make it more difficult for Russia to wage a proxy 
war against Ukraine while publicly denying it.
  To be sure, there is no quick or military solution to the problem. 
Defensive weapons alone cannot shield Ukraine from Russia's 
aggression--but they can help the Ukrainian effort in continuing to 
build a sovereign state, free from Russia's interference. And there is 
much more we can do. We should provide humanitarian assistance to 
embattled regions, help train the judiciary and law enforcement, and 
share our expertise in law and medicine.
  I have tremendous hope for Ukraine's future. Its people have shown 
time and again their determination to build a democratic Ukraine with 
prosperity shared by all Ukrainians. Let us help them now with the 
defensive weapons they need.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 162.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

                          ____________________