[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 7, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E122]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              CONGRATULATIONS PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR ORBAN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE WILSON

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 7, 2024

  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, as co-founder and co-chair 
of the European Union Caucus I am grateful for the European Union last 
week voting to provide an additional $54 billion in aid to Ukraine. The 
EU has now provided more aid than any other ally and countries like 
Bulgaria and Poland have contributed more per capita GDP than even the 
United States.
  I appreciate Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary supporting the 
funding. This fulfills my lifelong affection for the courageous people 
of Hungary. As a child I was inspired by Hungarian Freedom Fighters 
valiantly standing in front of the Soviet Tanks in Budapest. Hungary 
should always be cherished as the first Soviet satellite to stand up to 
totalitarian Moscow which was cited by Senator Barry Goldwater in his 
historic book Why Not Victory? for liberation of Central and Eastern 
Europe. The Goldwater Campaign featured actor Ronald Reagan in his 
historic speech ``A Tune For Choosing'' leading to his presidency with 
Pope John Paul, II, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher achieving 
Victory.
  Viktor Orban is valiantly acting in the tradition of Hungarian 
Freedom Fighters who defied the Communist Hammer and Sickle symbol of 
mass-murdering totalitarianism. War criminal Putin has shamefully 
oppressed the talented people of Russia and has shamefully called for 
the resurrection of the evil Soviet Empire. I was shocked in June this 
year, to see the Communist Hammer and Sickle is still cruelly in place 
over the Russian Embassy in Berlin, Germany. It was so disgusting to 
see adulation of a symbol that in September 1939 was allied with the 
Nazi Swastika to conduct mass murder of 70,000 Polish patriots in the 
partition of Poland.
  European Council President Charles Michel is correct ``This locks in 
steadfast, long term, predictable funding for Ukraine.'' It was 
encouraging the correlation with Prime Minister Orban with Italian 
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and French President Emmanuel Macron.
  In America there is bi-partisan majority support for Ukraine 
understanding war criminal Putin will not stop with his invasion of 
Ukraine with direct threats on NATO Members Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, 
and Poland. President Donald Trump tried to deter the murderous 
invasion of Ukraine by providing Javelin missiles to President 
Volodymyr Zelensky to stop Putin tanks, courageously placing American 
troops for the first time in Poland and stopping the Nord Stream Two 
Pipeline financing of war criminal Putin oppressing Russian citizens as 
Putin contrived Western European dependency on his oil. House Armed 
Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, House Foreign Affairs 
Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, and Intelligence Committee Chairman 
Mike Turner are stalwarts for victory in Ukraine. They are backed up 
with Democrat Ranking Members Adam Smith, Greg Meeks, and Jim Himes.

                          ____________________