Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Chair, I am just back from a third trip to Ukraine during the war, and, yes, we saw evidence of Putin's war crimes--the mass graves and evidence of torture, religious persecution, and kidnapping of children. It reminds us that throughout our history in moments like this our country has been called to act, and it did.

We are called to stand up in the fight for freedom and in the face of tyranny and to be the arsenal of democracy, but in recent months, we have not met this challenge.

It has been said it is never too late to do the right thing. Well, we are coming really close, as we have been handcuffed by extremists and appeasers, and now the pipeline to Ukraine is almost empty.

Should we now fail to send additional aid, Ukraine will lose this war, and in Putin's eyes it will be just the beginning of his efforts to reconstitute the Soviet Union. Inaction risks not just the fate of democracy, but the possibility of drawing our own country directly into war.

Today, it is particularly important that we heed the voices from the past: From President Ronald Reagan, as he espoused the Reagan Doctrine that we will always defend our friends and allies against Soviet aggression.

From President Kennedy: ``We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.''

Finally, in his last inaugural address, FDR reminded us: ``We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations far away. . . . ''

We can and we must act.

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