Suspending Normal Trade Relations with Russia and Belarus Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRAWFORD. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 7108. Everyone here on the floor with me today can agree that Russia's aggression in Ukraine with Belarus in support is reprehensible and wrong.

While I strongly believe that this next round of sanctions will continue to hold Russia and Belarus accountable, we also can't ignore soaring fertilizer costs already propelled by global supply chain issues. Russia and Belarus, unfortunately, are major exporters of fertilizer and these sanctions may drive costs even higher.

But skyrocketing fertilizer costs won't affect my support for this bill. Peace must be achieved by all available measures. I will turn my focus now to solutions to drive fertilizer costs back down.

From temporarily or completely eliminating barriers for fertilizer trade from other nations, to input subsidies for our producers to offset input costs, we must be willing to put all available solutions on the table.

I have always argued that food security is national security, and I will continue to work with my colleagues to alleviate fertilizer costs to our farmers in order to grow food for our shelves.

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