[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 57 (Thursday, March 31, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H4011]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN UKRAINE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak from both the 
heart and the Constitution.
  The privilege of citizenship in the United States gives Americans the 
freedom to exert and to speak about what is in the depths of their 
heart while holding the Constitution that indicates: ``We the people of 
the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish 
justice''--the Constitution goes on to describe a myriad of justice 
issues in the Bill of Rights.
  In addition to that, we have exhibits, symbols of freedom. I begin 
first with the Statue of Liberty standing tall in the New York Harbor. 
What you can see is the throng of humanity, fleeing Ukrainians, who now 
will probably amount to 6 million internally displaced persons and 
refugees in totality.

                              {time}  1015

  Amongst these individuals are separated families from their husbands, 
brothers, and cousins and others who are on the fight.
  But it is important to describe why we are here: one man, Putin. One 
man. One man has established this level of intense brutality and 
violence, insensitivity, rage, and attack.
  Mr. Putin's attack is on the babies of Ukraine. I will not give him 
any credence or respect that he is at war. He is in the midst of 
destruction and vile actions and attacked a hospital with pregnant 
women. He separated pregnant women from their babies who were born dead 
or mothers who gave birth and died and the baby died shortly 
thereafter.
  The new revelation is that babies and women and children have been 
stolen by Russian soldiers and carted off to Russian territory. That is 
the vileness of this ludicrous Putin war.
  Then we come to find out--which is in the public domain--that he may 
not be getting the right information, but let us not use that as an 
excuse.
  It didn't matter what revelations he would get. He is a violent actor 
living in a dream world of reimagining the Soviet Union.
  And so it is crucial for those of us who believe in peace that our 
administration determines the validity of any peace discussions because 
we would want to be part of ensuring that they are viable.
  But, at the same time, to the dismay of many of us, the weapons 
should be given, the drones should be given, the war has to stop, and 
there is no end in sight.
  And so the murderous attack, the destruction of cities, such as the 
ocean-based city, that have been destroyed, brought to their knees, 
individuals lost lives under the pile of rubbage, and particularly, the 
theater where 300 died where children were written on the outside.
  Mr. Speaker, we must prepare now for refugees. And may I suggest that 
we must prepare for refugees coming from South and Central America that 
will include Haitians and Africans.
  We are prepared to take in 125,000. Only 7,000 have been utilized. As 
some would say, including my late friend and colleague, Elijah 
Cummings, America is better than this. We know how to do this, and we 
must find the way to do it.
  Standing at podiums and banging on the desk about we don't want these 
people, then you must not want those who are fleeing the bloody, 
violent actions of this horrific person.
  I believe we should stand united as Americans, to capture the words: 
``We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect 
Union, establish justice''. . . . I want us to stand with the Ukrainian 
people, that nation.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Marcy Kaptur for leading the Ukrainian Caucus 
and all of the Members, Republicans and Democrats.
  But as I conclude, let me quickly say in 1 minute one issue that we 
should not forget in establishing justice: We must have oversight over 
the United States Supreme Court, and the texts of a spouse, as well, 
must be addressed, and we will address it.

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