[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 196 (Wednesday, November 29, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H5939-H5940]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 WE DON'T HAVE THE LUXURY OF CHOOSING ONLY ONE THREAT AND ONE CHALLENGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Quigley) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to remember history.
  Over 80 years ago, the Greatest Generation fought the Second World 
War to keep tyrants from taking over the free world. They fought for 
freedom and democracy.
  Today, we must honor their sacrifice by continuing to fight for the 
same principles.
  Today's fight in Ukraine is for those principles--for the right of 
Ukraine and any other democratic nation and their people to exist. By 
aiding Ukraine, we are ensuring their continued existence.
  Without that aid, Putin could have and probably would have wiped 
Ukraine off the face of the Earth, leaving it in a battle of 
insurgency.
  Our aid has always been critical to the survival of nations far away. 
During the Second World War, President Franklin D. Roosevelt coined the 
phrase, ``arsenal of democracy'' to describe the U.S.'s role to 
providing weapons to democracies fighting to defend themselves.
  Roosevelt argued that this assistance would enable our allies ``to 
fight for their liberty and for our security.'' That is still true 
today.
  Our continued aid is about preserving the liberty of vulnerable 
nations, but it is also about our national security.
  In FDR's fourth inaugural address, he said, ``We have learned that we 
cannot live alone, at peace; that our own well-being is dependent on 
the well-being of other nations far away.''
  Those who argue that this is not our fight fail to remember this 
critical idea. They fail to remember that Ukraine's fight is for the 
same reasons we formed NATO and the United Nations.
  Ukraine's fight is ours, for if Putin is not defeated, he would not 
stop at Ukraine. His greater aim is to reconstitute the former Soviet 
Union, imperiling freedom and democracy in the region and enveloping 
them in tyranny.
  Putin's intention was to form a federation with Belarus and Ukraine, 
where he would have installed a puppet government, to overtake Moldova, 
the Baltics, and beyond. It would mean even more of the same 
devastation we have seen for well over a year.
  When I traveled to Ukraine in July 2022, I saw the flattened 
maternity hospital and mass graves that Putin's forces left in their 
wake. If not for our assistance, Putin's reign of terror would be 
happening on a much larger scale.
  Following the Second World War, we vowed never again. Now our word is 
being tested. We must make good on that promise.
  Our commitment is to that promise and our resolve is on display for 
the rest of the world. We must show leaders in Tehran and Beijing and 
elsewhere that we will not cower in the face of tyranny. That is why we 
must fund Ukraine's defense.
  Now some would continue to present a false choice that we must fund 
Ukraine or Israel, but not both. They are wrong. We do not have to 
choose. In the words of NATO General Secretary Stoltenberg, ``We have 
the capability, the strength to address different challenges at the 
same time. We don't have the luxury of choosing only one threat and one 
challenge.''
  The conflict in Israel and the conflict in Ukraine are tied together 
by Vladimir Putin. Just as Iran is supporting Hamas' attack on Israel, 
Iran is also assisting Putin in his assault on Ukraine. We can help 
Israel defend itself from terrorism while also helping Ukraine defend 
itself from an evil autocrat.
  President John F. Kennedy said, ``We shall pay any price, bear any 
burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure 
the survival and the success of liberty.''
  Right now that price is the request that President Biden has made, 
enough to aid Ukraine for the next year of fighting.
  It is a small price to pay for our national security and global 
security. Failing to do so will show Putin and the rest of the world 
our current level of dysfunction and our inability to govern. Our 
inability to govern is a national security threat and an international 
security threat.

[[Page H5940]]

  We are at a critical point in our history, not dissimilar to the 
years leading up to the Second World War. We and our allies built a 
liberal world order after that war. Now we must protect it.
  As Churchill said, ``Now is not the end. It is not even the beginning 
of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.''
  The choices we make now will influence the fate of the free world for 
generations to come. Let's make the right ones.

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