[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 201 (Wednesday, December 6, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H6150]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Nickel) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. NICKEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on the urgent need to stand 
up for democracy at home and abroad.
  Yesterday, Members of Congress heard from our Secretary of State, our 
Secretary of Defense, and other senior leaders from the administration 
on the dire situation in Ukraine and Israel.
  While they said the right things, the sense of urgency, the sense of 
passion is missing from all of this right now. It is missing from this 
debate, Mr. Speaker.
  If we leave next week for the holidays with inaction, Russian will 
win, and we will begin to hand over Ukraine to Russia and Vladimir 
Putin.
  Mr. Speaker, the world is watching the actions of this Chamber right 
now in the next 10 days, and the silence is deafening.
  Let's be clear: Both Russia and Hamas seek to destroy democracy, and 
we must stand with our allies and pass a supplemental aid package now.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about Ukraine. Right now, we risk Ukraine 
literally running out of bullets if we go 10 days with inaction here in 
Congress.
  If we do nothing by the end of the month, Russia will begin to win in 
Ukraine. If we abandon Ukraine, Russia will win.
  We need to be clear: The silence and inaction we are seeing play out 
here on the floor of the House means strong support for Russia and 
their invasion of Ukraine. That is the choice we are making by doing 
nothing.
  Mr. Speaker, Ronald Reagan is rolling over in his grave right now as 
he watches far-right extremist Republicans standing with Russia and 
Vladimir Putin. How has the Republican Party become the party of 
Vladimir Putin?
  Mr. Speaker, this place is broken. I want to be clear in what I am 
saying. We are witnessing a minority of the Republican Conference 
calling the shots in this Chamber.
  A majority of the Republican Conference supports standing with 
Ukraine, but they have been cowed by the minority in their party, and 
we continue to see the tail wagging the dog.
  To my Republican colleagues who remain silent, the time for action is 
now. Allow a clean vote on the supplemental funding package for Ukraine 
and for Israel. We must stand strong with Ukraine today.
  Let's talk about the cost because that has been brought up over and 
over. If we gift wrap Ukraine for Vladimir Putin over this holiday 
season, we will spend 100 times more money around the globe containing 
an aggressive Russia. Moldova and Georgia are next.
  This is a national security issue for the American people, and 
support for Ukraine is in our national interest.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about Israel as well. We must stand with 
Israel and support its right to defend itself.
  We must immediately pass humanitarian aid and security aid for Israel 
so that we can disarm and dismantle Hamas.
  Mr. Speaker, 400 Members of this Chamber would easily support a clean 
security and humanitarian assistance package for Israel. It is shameful 
that our new Speaker chose to play partisan political games with 
support for Israel.
  For the American people watching, the bill that passed out of this 
Chamber says we will stand with Israel, absolutely, only if we defund 
the police for billionaires and wealthy tax cheats. That is the choice 
that this body had, and it is shameful.
  When someone's house is on fire, we don't say, hey, we will put out 
the fire as long as you let us not pay for a bunch of IRS agents to go 
after billionaires and wealthy tax cheats. You help them when their 
house is burning down.
  Right now, that is what we are watching in Israel with Israel 
security assistance and humanitarian aid that we need to provide to the 
Palestinian people in Gaza.
  An overwhelming majority of Members support standing with Ukraine and 
standing with Israel. If we could get a clean vote on this bill on the 
floor, it would pass, but it is time for action.

                              {time}  1030

  Let me say that House Democrats, Senate Democrats, and Senate 
Republicans all agree on the need to support Israel and Ukraine, and I 
would even say a majority of the Republican Conference agrees. However, 
we can't get a vote on this as long as the far-right extremists of the 
Republican Conference continue to wag the tail of the dog in this 
House.
  Mr. Speaker, this is about the future of democracy for the world. The 
defining question for our great experiment in self-governance is 
whether we can defend democracy at home and abroad. We will face that 
question about defending democracy at home in November, but right now, 
we need to stand and be counted.
  Authoritarianism is on the rise around the globe. We can either stand 
with democracies like Israel and Ukraine or we can bend the knee to 
Putin, terrorists, and other authoritarian regimes around the world.
  As I voted for Speaker 19 times now, I have learned how incredibly 
fragile our democracy is. We must act now to pass a supplemental aid 
package and stand with Ukraine and Israel.
  The world is watching, Mr. Speaker. Bring a clean bill to the floor 
now. The time for action is now.

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