[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 67 (Wednesday, April 17, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H2448]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             AN EMBATTLED ISRAEL AND A BELEAGUERED UKRAINE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. McCormick). The Chair recognizes the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I would remind the previous speaker of the 
bipartisan bill from the Senate, which does, in fact, deal with the 
critical issue she raised. The leadership of the Republican Party has 
refused to take up that bill.
  However, there is a more important issue that confronts this House 
that we should have acted on days, weeks, months ago. That is the 
security of the global community, the sanctity of international law, 
and the saving of the sovereignty of Ukraine.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of an embattled Israel and a 
beleaguered Ukraine and apprehensive allies around the world.
  A month ago, Speaker Johnson said: ``No one wants Vladimir Putin to 
prevail. I am of the opinion that he wouldn't stop in Ukraine. If he 
was allowed, he'd go through all the way through Europe.''
  The Speaker said: ``There is a right and wrong there--a good versus 
evil, in my view. And Ukraine is the victim here. They were invaded. We 
stand with good.''
  The Speaker went on to say: ``I understand the timetable and I 
understand the necessity of the urgency of the funding.''
  Yet, we twiddle our thumbs without any paper on this floor as to how 
we are going to affect the urgent end of which the Speaker spoke.
  Speaker Johnson then said on April 16: ``We need steady leadership. 
We need steady hands on the wheel. Look, I regard myself as a wartime 
Speaker.''
  If the Speaker regards himself as that, Speaker Johnson must act now. 
There is no time for delay. There is no time for political chaos to 
impede our aid to Ukraine.
  Clearly, we are not acting urgently. If we did, we would have allowed 
us to pass the Senate national security bill a long time ago. Putin has 
to be happy with the failure to bring the Senate bill to the floor. It 
must look like ``Gulliver's Travels'' with the little people in 
America, the Lilliputians who are in our midst tying down America's 
ability to respond.
  We have seen the consequences of House inaction. Over the weekend, 
Iran made an unprecedented attack on Israel, launching roughly 350 
drones and missiles at targets across the country. They see an 
unresolved United States, although Israel shot down nearly all of them 
with the support of America.
  God bless President Biden and our allies. The audacity and breadth of 
Iran's attack ought to concern us all as Americans and as global 
citizens.
  In Ukraine, we have allowed our allies to run so low on ammunition 
that their air defenses cannot fend off similar air attacks. Shame on 
America. Shame on this House.
  Indeed, Iran supplies Putin with the same drones and missiles to 
strike Ukrainian cities. Meanwhile, Ukraine's soldiers are so starved 
for ammunition that they wade into swamps in search of abandoned 
Russian artillery shells they can reuse. That is how committed they are 
to winning this war, and that is how desperate they are for our aid. 
This Congress has failed to provide it for them for 473 days.
  The world watches us and wonders: Does America remain the defender of 
freedom, democracy, and its allies, or has the wellspring of democracy 
run dry? The free world expects more from the great arsenal of 
democracy, and so should we.
  Most Members of this House agree. Over 300 Members of this House have 
voted for the proposition contained in the Senate bill. On seven 
occasions in the past year, over 300 Democrats and Republicans voted to 
aid Ukraine. Even more of us voted to aid Israel.
  We are not a silent majority, but a silenced majority, silenced by a 
Speaker who refused to give us a vote. It will pass. He could put the 
Senate supplemental on the floor at any moment. It would pass with a 
large bipartisan majority.
  Freedom is waiting upon us today. International law is waiting for us 
to redress the grievance that has occurred by Russia's invasion of 
Ukraine.
  Mr. Speaker, let us act now.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman's time has expired.
  Mr. HOYER. Ukraine's time has expired.

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