[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 35 (Friday, February 25, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E180]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         LESSONS TO LEARN FROM THE RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. PAUL A. GOSAR

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 25, 2022

  Mr. GOSAR. Madam Speaker, we are living through a major international 
event. My position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict has not changed, this 
is not our war and American forces need not be involved. Yet, Americans 
are still feeling the impact of this conflict, reminding us how 
dangerous our current policies of foreign reliance are in an 
international system inhabited with rogue regimes vying to be great 
powers.
  Over the course of several decades, through two hot wars, and one 
cold war, the U.S. went abroad to defeat forces of evil and tyranny 
threatening America and the freedom loving world. After leaving the 
international system based on the rule of law, democracy, and human 
rights, America came home but its officials remained abroad placing 
international affairs above American security, economic development 
abroad over economic prosperity at home, and foreign supply chains over 
American ones.
  In 2016, the American people through a collective voice announced its 
intention to return to our own domestic affairs, as the Founders 
intended, to disentangle from the system where foreign treaties and 
global corporations set our policy instead of the American people 
through their representatives. In short, to enjoy the security and 
liberty we had obtained for ourselves. But Mr. Biden has instead 
reverted to the old status quo.
  Ukraine is over 6,000 miles from my state of Arizona, yet my 
constituents are still feeling the consequences of bad policy and poor 
governance. The Biden Administration's decision making since the 
beginning has led to this conflict, signaling to foreign powers that 
such aggressive behavior is acceptable and intertwining the daily 
security and prosperity of the American people to actions of foreign 
adversaries, undermining their liberty as citizens of a secure power.
  Mr. Biden from the first day tied the energy security of the American 
people to foreign regimes in the name of politics. To appease radical 
climate change activists, Mr. Biden cancelled the Keystone pipeline and 
crushed oil and gas permitting on federal lands. With domestic demand 
not changing, we went from energy independent and a net exporter to 
purchasing 600,000 barrels per day from Russia which has some of the 
worst emitting pipelines in the world. These oil and gas profits grant 
it geopolitical leverage over America and its allies and fuels the 
Russian war machine now attacking another nation.
  U.S. imports of Russian goods since the Obama Administration are up 
over 22 percent. $13 billion annually in mineral fuels, $1.4 billion in 
iron and steel, nearly a billion in fertilizers, and the list goes on. 
A trade deficit of over $13 billion with Russia who is attacking a 
neighboring state. With Russian economic production slowed due to 
conflict and the possibility that it could retaliate against sanctions, 
Russia can cut the U.S. and its allies off from products we critically 
need.
  The damage reflected from foreign reliance does not end here, nor 
does Mr. Biden's involvement as the source of the pain. The U.S. is 
reliant on foreign adversaries for critical minerals needed to sustain 
our national defense, provide health care for our citizens, and more. 
Russia is particularly influential over American access to helium and 
uranium, with another foreign adversary, China, controlling other can't 
live without minerals. Yet Mr. Biden and this majority has killed 
mining projects across America, including copper and uranium mines in 
Arizona. Now our source of these materials is at war with another 
country and can turn off the flow of these materials to America based 
on how this conflict plays out.
  And let's talk about NATO, the trigger point for this conflict. 
President Trump cogently noted that NATO members were in violation of 
their contractual obligation to fund their military forces at 2.5 
percent of their GDP. But they have been in breach of this agreement 
for decades. It is so bad that the German war minister reported that 
Germany had no military assets to contribute at this time.
  Commentator Mark America explains it well: ``Trump was not only right 
about European nations' contributions to NATO, but their underlying 
defense expenditures are cratering. Since Trump left, they've fallen 
off a cliff, with reports that the German Army couldn't deploy 
sufficient forces to repeal successfully much of anything. In short, 
Europe has left themselves virtually defenseless, with the brief 
exception of the period of Trump's presidency, with only new NATO 
member Poland substantially upholding the promise of expending at least 
two percent of their national GDP on defense. The United States has 
been bearing the burdens of defending Europe for most of a century now, 
yet we cannot get them to pay to defend themselves, and there is no 
will under the current administration in Washington, DC to hold NATO's 
feet to the fire. In 2020, Germany barely attained 1.57 percent of its 
GDP in defense spending, and that was after extensive prodding from 
President Trump. When he took office, the Germans were spending roughly 
1.1 percent on defense. In short, don't look to Berlin for help.''
  So when my constituents ask me why does a conflict 6,000 miles from 
our border increase prices on Americans at the pump, dent their 401ks, 
and raise the cost of everyday goods, the answer is because Mr. Biden 
consistently makes decisions which put Americans last.
  Rather than continuing the reorientation of governance towards 
American prosperity and security which started in 2016, Mr. Biden has 
turned back outward. But Americans are realizing who stands for and 
against them. On January 20, 2017, President Trump echoed the will of 
the American people when he said ``from this day forward, it's only 
going to be America First . . . every decision on trade, on taxes, on 
immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American 
workers and American families.'' The last year, culminating in a 
foreign conflict we are not fighting hurting our country, shows the 
folly of straying from such a simple proclamation, and we must return 
to a government for the People.