[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 152 (Wednesday, September 20, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H4412]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           SUPPORTING UKRAINE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, when Vladimir Putin and his autocratic regime 
launched their brutal criminal invasion of Ukraine in February of last 
year, many people predicted that the Ukrainians would throw down their 
arms and surrender within days.
  Mr. Speaker, 18 months later, however, burnt-out husks of Russian 
tanks litter the Ukrainian countryside. Blue and gold flags fly proudly 
over Kyiv, Kherson, Lyman, and other towns held or liberated by 
Ukrainian forces. Russian soldiers surrender, desert, and dodge 
conscription in droves.
  Meanwhile, defenders of democracy stand firm with Ukrainian courage 
in their hearts and Western weapons in their hands. Ukrainians stand 
strong because Americans and Brits and Danes and Germans and French and 
other freedom-loving peoples around the world stand united behind them. 
That unity is crucial now more than ever as the warmongering dictators 
of the world--Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, and Xi Jinping--have all 
come together.
  We are locked in a struggle between freedom and fascism, democracy 
and despotism, might and right. The war in Ukraine is that struggle 
manifest.
  President Zelenskyy returns to our Capitol this week, tomorrow, to 
remind us that the fate not only of this sovereign, democratic nation 
but of the free world hinges on this conflict. He recognizes that our 
international cooperation to preserve democracy depends on our 
cooperation here in the Congress of the United States.
  Democrats and Republicans have found consensus on the issue in the 
past, securing vital military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. We must 
keep working in a bipartisan fashion to ensure that Ukrainians receive 
whatever tools and resources they need to succeed on the battlefield 
because only the great arsenal of democracy, as we said during World 
War II, can vanquish an axis of evil.
  I echo what President Truman said to the Congress in 1952 when trying 
to secure further aid for war-torn Europe. He said this: ``If through 
inaction we desert the cause of democracy, the democratic hope may be 
exterminated in broad areas of the Earth.'' We must not let that 
happen.
  President Truman called on Congress, as I urge you now, to add 
powerful momentum to the democratic counteroffensive, which inspires in 
the people of the world a sense of their own destiny as free men and 
women.
  We have built up that momentum steadily over the last year and a 
half. Imagine how much more it will grow in the months ahead if the 
free world maintains its resolve, if this Congress maintains its 
resolve.
  When President Zelenskyy arrives in our Capitol corridors tomorrow, 
he should not have to plead for more support. Instead, we ought to show 
him that we are committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure that 
action prevails over inaction, that democracy triumphs over autocracy, 
and that Ukraine emerges victorious over Russia.
  Like the martyrs who gave their lives on the Lexington Common in 1775 
and Kyiv's Maidan in 2014, we will show the world that we will do 
everything to protect our democratic principles.
  If we are to defend democracy at home and around the world, if we are 
to defeat the despots, dictators, and dealers of destruction, then we, 
Ukraine, and the free world must stand as one.
  Our words supporting freedom will ring very hollow if not coupled 
with our actions to defend freedom, as President Kennedy said, ``here 
and around the world.'' Let us defend the democracy that we hold so 
dear.

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