[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 7, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H1906-H1907]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HONORING COMMITMENTS
(Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Hoyer
of Maryland was recognized for 30 minutes.)
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow, May 8, marks 80 years since Nazi
Germany surrendered to America and its Allies. Victory in Europe, known
as VE Day, came at a tremendous price: hundreds of thousands of
Americans and millions of others dead, many more physically maimed and
mentally scarred, an indeterminate amount of treasure exhausted, and a
continent reduced to ruin.
On that day, Mr. Speaker, President Truman said that the only way to
repay that debt was through ``ceaseless devotion . . . to build an
abiding peace, a peace rooted in justice and in law.''
He said, ``We can build such a peace only by hard, toilsome,
painstaking work--by understanding and working with our allies in peace
as we have in war.''
Mr. Speaker, I was born just a few months before that war began. I
was only 5 years old when Truman said those words. I have lived my
entire life virtually amid the abiding peace he envisioned all those
years ago. I have lived my entire life knowing that America was the
world's most consequential nation. I have lived my entire life
believing that America was also the nation most committed to freedom,
democracy, free markets, and self-determination, even if our deeds
sometimes fell short of those goals.
The Pax Americana that began in 1945 was not inevitable. As Truman
said, it took hard, toilsome, painstaking work not only by the Greatest
Generation that saw the horrors of World War II but also the
generations that have followed.
President Kennedy said, in his inaugural address, ``The torch has
been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century,
tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our
ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing
of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed,
and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.''
Kennedy spoke of universal brotherhood and sisterhood of all mankind
and the recognition that we are inextricably connected. It reflected
the pledge we make to our flag, the symbol of our value and our unity,
recognizing that, under God, we are indivisible.
United around that principle, we did not repeat the mistake we made
after 1918. We came together. We made an alliance. We did not disarm.
We did not turn our backs on our Allies and the world. We did not try
to appease dictators and authoritarians. We continued to express to the
world our willingness to partner with democratic and free nations to
defend liberty, as Kennedy said, here and around the world.
That is, Mr. Speaker, until 2016. Sadly and dangerously, candidate
Donald Trump announced that America might not honor that pledge. He
made it conditional, transactional, if you will. He was right, of
course, to demand our NATO allies pay their proportionate share for
NATO's expenses, but he sent shock waves of doubt to our allies, to our
friends, and, yes, to our enemies and our adversaries.
He expressed uncertainty about whether the United States would honor
its commitment under Article 5 of the NATO charter to defend a NATO
ally in the event that they were attacked, as our NATO allies have done
for the United States after the September 11 attacks.
Mr. Speaker, in 2017, I worked across the aisle with Speaker Paul
Ryan, Leader Kevin McCarthy, and others to pass an overwhelmingly
bipartisan resolution that reassured NATO nations, and potential
adversaries, as well, that the United States would always honor Article
5. It passed, Mr. Speaker, 419-3.
For over three quarters of a century, the credibility of our
commitment to ensuring we would never see world war III, which, of
course, was the assurance of deterrence and resolve against warmongers,
was unassailable.
President Trump, however, as a candidate, put the premise of peace
through strength and unity in doubt, which brings me, Mr. Speaker, to
Ukraine.
I wear the Ukrainian flag and the flag of the United States every
day. Every morning, I pin this pin on the suit that I am wearing.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, largely because of a failed economic
system and the resolve of America, NATO, and the free world, the USSR's
captive nations regained their independence and sovereignty. While
their histories were unique, their status as independent nations was
recognized by the United Nations and most of the world.
In 1994, a few years later, the Russians signed an agreement
recognizing Ukraine's sovereignty and pledged to respect the integrity
of the then-existing borders in exchange for Ukraine turning over all
of its nuclear weapons to Russia.
Predictably and sadly, the Russians did not honor their agreement. On
February 20, 2014, they invaded a part of Ukraine, Crimea, in an act of
international criminal behavior.
{time} 1915
Two agreements that Russia and Ukraine signed in Minsk--the first in
September of 2014 and the second in February of 2015--outlined a
Russian commitment to withdraw from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of
Ukraine and to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity. Instead, Russia
continued waging a proxy war in eastern Ukraine for years.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that the West's failure to respond to the 2014
invasion and the illegal annexation of Crimea led to Russia's second
criminal and horrific invasion of Ukraine without provocation in 2022,
some 3 years ago.
Our failure to act sent a message not only to Putin, but to the rest
of the world that the United States and the free world may not respond
to illegal war invasion.
Although President Trump may not bear the blame for how the war
began, he may determine how it ends: in victory or defeat for freedom,
democracy, and international law.
Mr. Speaker, I fear that this administration is pursuing a strategy
of defeat in Ukraine. The Trump administration is trying to appease
Vladimir Putin, just as Neville Chamberlain tried and failed to appease
Adolf Hitler.
Trump and many of his loyalists parrot the Russian propaganda lie
that
[[Page H1907]]
somehow Ukraine, the victim of Putin's unprovoked invasion, started the
war. The President has now said he did not mean that, but that is what
he said.
The Trump administration has halted American efforts to investigate
and prosecute Russian war crimes. He pressures Ukraine to forfeit
Crimea, a part of Ukraine agreed to by Russia in 1994. He pressures
Ukraine to forfeit Crimea and large swaths of its eastern lands.
Crucially, President Trump and other members of the administration
have dismissed Ukraine's ambitions and desire to become members of
NATO. I believe NATO membership is the best and perhaps only way to
assure Ukraine's security.
Mr. Speaker, we didn't ask Russia's permission to have Sweden join
NATO. We didn't ask Russia's permission to have Finland join NATO. They
joined because they correctly feared additional Russian invasions,
including on the long borders that Finland has with Russia.
Why would we ask Russia's permission, therefore, to let Ukraine join
NATO? That decision belongs to us, our NATO allies, and Ukraine. No one
else.
Not once has NATO threatened to invade Russia. That is not Putin's
fear. No, he is afraid that NATO will stand in the way of Russia
invading others.
Yet, Mr. Speaker, even with all of Trump's concessions, Vladimir
Putin continues to drag his feet in negotiations. He wanted this war
when he launched his invasion 3 years ago and, frankly, he still wants
it today. He wants conquest, not simply concessions. He is laser-
focused on restoring and expanding the old autocratic dictatorship
known as the Soviet empire.
Even if Putin were to agree to a peace deal, we could never trust him
to keep it. Eventually, he would toss it into the ashbin with the U.N.
Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, the Budapest Memorandum, the Minsk
agreements of which I spoke, and all the other international laws and
agreements he has violated over the years.
Mr. Speaker, Trump risks falling for the same grand illusion that
Chamberlain fell for, that feeding the Russian bear will make Putin
less hungry for expansion, less dangerous, less dismissive of
international law. That did not happen with Hitler, and it will not
happen with Putin.
Supporting Ukraine, Mr. Speaker, is the moral thing to do, but
importantly and centrally, it is also in America's interests, and in
the interests of international security and global stability.
Vladimir Putin is part of a new axis of aggression, one made up of
Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. A Russian victory in Ukraine
would embolden not only Putin, but also expansionist authoritarians
everywhere to prey on the free world.
When our adversaries doubt our resolve, they become more willing to
test our strength. Mr. Speaker, if Putin wins, Xi Jinping wins,
Khomeini wins, Kim Jong-Un wins, they are authoritarians, aggressive,
acquisitive, and dangerous.
If Ukraine loses, America loses, Europe loses, the free world loses,
democracy loses, and international law loses. Freedom is at risk.
That is, I tell you, Mr. Speaker, the consensus of our allies. This
year, I visited five of our European allies on congressional
delegations, one led by Mike Turner, the former chair of the
Intelligence Committee, and the other led by Michael Rogers, chairman
of the Armed Services Committee.
I spoke to leaders and many others at the Munich Security Conference.
They all agree, Russia must not win its war of aggression. They are
committed not only to Russia's strategic defeat, but also to securing a
lasting peace like the one that began in 1945, a peace through strength
and resolve.
Our allies, Mr. Speaker, also recognize that we all need to do more.
Experts predict Russia will field a 2 million-strong army by 2030.
Right now, Russia produces more ammunition in 3 months than NATO does
in an entire year. That includes America, of course. That has to
change, and it is.
Of NATO's 28 nations, 23 reached and exceeded the alliance's
requirement for a minimum 2 percent of GDP for defense spending.
Poland, Estonia, and Latvia are now over 3 percent. Lithuania and
Finland will be over 3 percent in 2025. For context, the U.S. spent
3.38 percent of GDP in 2024. Poland and Estonia are already higher.
Most of our NATO allies, Mr. Speaker, already have plans to increase
spending further in the years ahead.
The only action that will deter Putin's expansionist vision and break
through his KGB psychology is one strong enough, resolved enough, and
credible enough to dispel any doubt that waging war against the West
would come at an untenable cost.
However, if we shrink from the concept of victory in Ukraine against
a despotic, illegal invasion, Russia and other authoritarian regimes
may not believe that the West will act. We can only secure peace
through strength if we help Ukraine deal Putin a definitive, strategic
defeat.
Mr. Speaker, most Members of this Congress agree. The Congress has
had at least 12 votes on the issue of supporting Ukraine since Russia's
savage invasion on February 24. Less than 2 weeks later, Republicans
and Democrats overwhelmingly voted to support Ukraine's defense. Mr.
Speaker, 84 percent of the Members voted ``yes.''
Two months later, there was a second vote, and 87 percent of the
Members of this body voted ``yes.'' Over the next 2 years, there were
10 more votes on support for Ukraine. They received an average of 80
percent of the votes of the U.S. House of Representatives.
We provided Ukraine with the military aid it needed to stay in the
fight. With incredible resolve, extraordinary courage, and a commitment
to their freedom and to their land, with our help, with the help of our
NATO allies, and other free-loving nations around the world, they have
hung in there for longer than anybody thought was possible.
Now, however, we need to give Ukraine the resources it needs to win
the war. This Republican majority will do, I think, what Trump asks.
All he has to do, Mr. Speaker, is pick up the phone and tell them to
put a Ukraine supplemental on the floor with his support. He has made
an economic deal. I don't know fully the details, but that gives us a
further stake from an economic standpoint, a business standpoint, and a
transactional standpoint, which of course our President focuses on so
often. If we put that bill on the floor, it will pass overwhelmingly.
Concessions, Mr. Speaker, will never get Putin to the negotiating
table. Only strength will do that.
Truman told Stalin to lift the blockade of Berlin, and he did.
Kennedy told Khrushchev to stay out of Cuba, and he did. Reagan told
Gorbachev: ``Tear down this wall.'' He did.
Why? Certainly not because America made endless concessions and
kowtowed to our adversaries. No, those Presidents succeeded because
America stood strong, stood up for its values, and stood up for its
allies, for freedom.
He clearly cares about his image, and I refer to ``he'' as President
Trump. The image that he likes to portray is winning.
Mr. President, make history. Make Putin get out of Ukraine. You said
this war would never have started if you were President. Now that you
are President, make Ukraine whole and make the aggressor leave. Tell
him to go home, to stop taking lives and start making the lives of his
people better.
President Trump must do this, if we are to maintain the peace secured
80 years ago, if our children are to have a world we want for them, a
world of peace and decency and respect for one another, a world where
transgressors are held accountable.
Mr. Speaker, the work to build a more secure world remains just as
hard, just as toilsome, just as painstaking as it did eight decades
ago, as Truman pointed out, but it remains just as important today as
it was then and has been for 80 years.
Mr. President, let us stand up for freedom. Let us stand up for law
and justice and stand with the courageous Ukrainians who, like us, want
to protect their land, protect their families, protect their economic
well-being, protect freedom. Mr. President, I think you can do it.
Please do.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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