We Must Not Abandon Our Allies
Floor Speech
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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, for more than 2 years, the world has watched as Ukraine defends freedom and democracy and international law.
Disgracefully, this House has failed to pass additional supplemental aid to that effort for 427 days, more than half the length of this war.
Our inaction is an abandonment not only of our allies but of our values of liberty, democracy, and international law. We are the leaders of the free world, not by choice, but by necessity. We ought to be ashamed. We ought to be disgusted. Indeed, most of us are.
As our Congress sleeps, the enemies of freedom rain hell down upon the defenders of democracy. They do so with greater fury, thinking that this Congress will do nothing to stop them.
Recently, we watched Russian forces take back the city of Avdiivka. Putin's regime killed Russian opposition leader Navalny, silencing a heroic, principled voice against Putin and his criminal invasion of Ukraine. Yet Speaker Johnson brings no bill to this floor.
Ukrainian soldiers now face a 10-1 disadvantage in artillery. They report watching Russian forces approach and having to decide in the moment how many grenades they can afford to launch, how many shells can they afford to fire, and how many bullets can they afford to shoot.
That calculation ought to be self-evident--as many as it takes--but it is not. The world is watching what is happening in the trenches of eastern Ukraine.
The people of Ukraine are watching what is happening on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. How can we rationalize that, that we stand silent without action?
The first question Ukrainian troops ask journalists who visit the front line is: What is happening in Washington? What is happening in the House? What is happening when the Speaker does not bring to the floor a bill to respond to the threats to us, to democracy, to freedom?
Ukrainians know that only America can provide them with the aid on the scale and timeline necessary to achieve a victory.
Elsewhere on the front lines, other soldiers told a reporter: You Americans have to decide whether you want to remain a global power.
Think in your heads as to whether we want to do that, for not doing so will cause great danger to the global community and ourselves.
Mr. Speaker, bring this bill to the floor. Let us act. The votes are here to pass that bill in a bipartisan fashion.
For the majority of Members, that decision is clear. We must help Ukraine, as well as our allies in Israel and beyond.
As I said, over 300 votes are on this floor to do just that--a bill to defend democracy, a bill to strike fear into the hearts of Putin and the axis of evil, a bill to restore America's reputation.
Speaker Johnson has been unable to handle this issue and fund our government simultaneously, but managing multiple priorities is the most basic part of his job.
It is disgraceful that the speakers from 23 parliaments, our allies, our friends, have written to us and said: America, America, America, respond as you have in the past to defend democracy, defend freedom, and defend the fighters for freedom.
It is disgraceful that they had to write us, but perhaps the Speaker needs that reminder. Leaders ought to lead, Speakers ought to speak up, and the United States Congress ought to stand united in its defense of freedom.
Mr. Speaker, history is watching at this pivotal moment. America ought not to be absent without leave. This is not a partisan issue. This is an issue for the leader of the free world--America. Let's act.
Mr. Speaker, bring the bill to the floor.
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