[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 37 (Thursday, February 29, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H744-H745]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           CONTINUE AMERICA'S LEGACY OF FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Himes) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, every generation or so, our country is 
challenged with a fight. It is a fight in which we

[[Page H745]]

invariably line up on the side of freedom, of liberty, of the right of 
all individuals to make their own decisions, to not be told by 
dictators or by mullahs or by totalitarians what to think, how to pray, 
or who will lead them--every generation.
  My generation was 9/11 when we were brutally attacked by extremists 
who hated our way of life; my grandparents' generation was the Cold War 
in which we stood against totalitarianism and communism in Europe and 
elsewhere; my great-grandparents' generation was World War II in which 
we stood up to fascism--always on the side of freedom, always on the 
side of liberty.
  While we don't always get it precisely right, and the cost in blood 
and treasure has often been horrendous, we are invariably there. We 
have stood against the odds for freedom and democracy.
  Now we waver. This generation, now we waver.
  Mr. Speaker, 2 years ago, something that we didn't imagine we would 
ever see again: Russia invades a sovereign country, crosses a border 
with tanks. Now we waver.
  Our parents and our grandparents, who fought those wars and the Cold 
War against Nazism, are saying: What is wrong with you? What has become 
of the instinct to stand for freedom and democracy?
  Mr. Speaker, we hear these objections about the border over and over 
again. My Republican friends are right about the border. We need to 
move.
  By the way, we did move. We had a bipartisan agreement supported by 
Republicans in the Senate, and the Republicans in the House said no.
  Do you know what, Mr. Speaker? This country, this body, can do more 
than one thing at the same time. We can stand for freedom and democracy 
and fix the border. Do not tell me that we choose between the two.
  We hear that the objectives in Ukraine are unclear. The objectives 
are as clear as can be. We will sustain this fight until Vladimir Putin 
realizes it is too expensive for him to stay in that fight.
  We hear that the Ukrainians are corrupt. We didn't hear that about 
our Afghan allies or about our Iraqi allies, but we hear that about the 
Ukrainians.
  Meanwhile, China, North Korea, and Iran are watching. What they are 
seeing is that Republicans--forget about loss of life--if it is a 
little bit of money, we don't sustain the fight.
  Do you think President Xi is not watching this moment carefully? Can 
you imagine what the implications are down the road for Taiwan?
  Failure to respond to Russian aggression will be something that we 
pay the cost for in years to come. A leader of this body said it: A 
failure to respond to that aggression ``empowers other dictators, other 
terrorists and tyrants around the world, because if they perceive that 
America is weak or unable to act decisively, then it invites aggression 
in many different ways.''
  That was Speaker Johnson, the leader of this body.
  Mr. Speaker, in 1938, Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister, 
went to Munich, where a bunch of us just were, and he appeased. He came 
back to England and said, I have achieved ``peace for our time.''
  Of course, that was not true; that was appeasement. As a result, the 
name ``Neville Chamberlain'' stands in history for the legacy of 
appeasement.
  Is that the legacy that you want for yourselves? Do we want to 
abandon, for the first time in hundreds of years, our tradition of 
standing for democracy and freedom? I don't think so.
  Maybe you do. Maybe you do because Donald Trump wants that to happen.
  At least bring the bipartisan Senate bill to the floor so that those 
who are infused with the legacy of this country's fight for freedom, 
and not infused by doing whatever Donald Trump demands of us on this 
particular day, can stand up for what this American country has always 
stood for.
  Bring the Senate bill to the floor.

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