Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022
Floor Speech
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Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1065, I call up the bill (S. 3522) to provide enhanced authority for the President to enter into agreements with the Government of Ukraine to lend or lease defense articles to that Government to protect civilian populations in Ukraine from Russian military invasion, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
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Mr. MEEKS. 3522.
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Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, today, I rise in support of S. 3522, the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022.
When Russia launched its renewed war against Ukraine, it thought Ukraine would fall in a matter of days. Putin and Russia thought the West would be divided, unable to offer Ukraine the support that it needed. They thought the world would believe their Russian lies. They thought that we would never stay together.
Well, Madam Speaker, on all accounts, Putin has been proven wrong. Two months ago, the people of Ukraine united in defense of their home. I visited Ukraine at that time, before the invasion, and they said: We will fight; we will defend our democracy and our country.
Then what happened? President Biden kept all 30 nations of NATO together, joining with and bringing along other allies and other democracies from around the world, all united like never before. We have jointly imposed devastating sanctions on Russia and provided Ukraine with billions of dollars of security, humanitarian, and economic assistance. And we have demonstrated to Putin and to the Russian Government that their actions have left them isolated.
At the time, our goal was clear: Help Ukraine do what we heard the people ask us to do, defend themselves. But it is now abundantly clear that we must adjust our assumptions and our strategies and that we must help Ukraine, as Secretary Austin said, win.
I strongly support the efforts of the administration, in coordination and in close cooperation with Congress, to provide as much assistance as we can to help Ukraine protect itself. We must look forward to what Ukraine needs to fend off the renewed Russian offensive in the east and, ultimately, win this war, to retake territory, to liberate the towns and cities from Russian occupation and ongoing Russian war crimes, and to maintain and regain their sovereignty and territorial integrity.
This bill is a further step in that direction of thinking toward the long term. It can and must be part of a strategy to not only continue providing Ukraine with the weapons systems its soldiers are well trained to use, including Russian tanks and planes, the U.S.- and NATO- origin antiair and antitank missile systems and drones, but also to step up our training efforts. Through additional training, we will be able to provide more and more advanced equipment.
The administration already has the authority to lend and lease equipment to allies and partners to support the United States' national security interests, and it has already been using all the funds that Congress has given it previously. This bill will allow the administration to cut through the red tape in existing lend-lease authorities to facilitate another channel by which all this vital support can be provided.
Specifically, this bill streamlines the processes to facilitate the administration's provisioning of lent or leased defense articles to Ukraine or Eastern European countries impacted by Russia's invasion for fiscal year 2022 and fiscal year 2023. It does so by exempting the administration from provisions of law that limit the duration of loaned equipment to 5 years only, as well as exempting such loaned and leased equipment from repayment of costs incurred by doing so.
In short, it does not create a new program, as lend-lease authority is already enshrined in law, but it gives the administration added flexibility in using an existing program to get vital support to Ukraine.
I strongly support this bill, and I urge all of my colleagues to show the same unity that our allies have shown as we fight off this vicious invasion by Putin and Russia in Ukraine.
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 3522, the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022.
Madam Speaker, it is absolutely amazing the unintended consequence of Vladimir Putin, war criminal Putin, that he has brought Democrats and Republicans together. He has united the people of the United States. With the leadership of Chairman Greg Meeks and Ranking Member Mike McCaul, Americans are united in their support of the people of Ukraine.
For 63 days, the courageous people of Ukraine have resisted full- scale invasion by war criminal Putin with his murderous occupying forces, in large part due to the courageous leadership of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Ukrainians have witnessed their prosperous homeland being attacked and the lives of their loved ones senselessly murdered. The world has been a witness to the countless atrocities inflicted upon the Ukrainian people, and we continue to see the depravity of the Putin forces in real time, targeting civilians and humanitarian infrastructure with mass murder, just as they conducted gruesomely in Aleppo, Syria.
Ukraine's request is simple: Provide the weapons needed to defend the Ukrainian homeland and Ukrainian families. This bill does just that by removing bureaucratic red tape to support a loan or lease of defense articles to Ukraine immediately.
I am grateful to have introduced the House bipartisan version of the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 and to work with our colleagues to bring this legislation to the floor today.
Time is of the essence. Every day that goes by means more innocent lives lost. Congress has been united in its support of Ukraine, and we have given the administration the capacity to use funds under a Presidential Drawdown Authority specifically for Ukraine.
Today, with the passage of this bill, we remain unified in our solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
There is a successful historical precedent for lend-lease. During World War II, lend-lease was enacted to provide weapons to Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and 28 other Allies to defeat Nazi Germany. Lend-lease proved integral in the outcome of the siege of Leningrad.
On May 5, 2005, I led a codel to Saint Petersburg. We, sadly, were there at the world's largest open cemetery to provide a wreath to recognize the appreciation of the people of the United States to the people of Russia. This is the final resting place of 420,000 civilians and 50,000 soldiers who died when Hitler's murderous forces invaded.
America saved what is now Saint Petersburg, which is the birthplace of Putin. It is ironic in history that America now is considering this critical legislation to help Ukrainians avoid further loss of life at the hands of Putin's murderous forces.
Ukraine's battle for its sovereignty is in the forefront of the fight between autocracy, which is the rule of gun, versus democracy, which is the rule of law. Their success is the success of democracy.
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Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the distinguished majority leader of this body.
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Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, first, let me thank Representative Spartz. She traveled with me when we visited Poland, and I know she was recently over there. She has relatives, and I think we saw her with--I think it was her grandparent, who is in her nineties, on Easter Sunday, celebrating and standing with the Ukrainian people. I thank the gentlewoman for her support even though she isn't a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, particularly for standing up for justice. I thank her personally for that.
I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green), my friend and leader.
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Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
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Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from the great State of Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), a dynamic Member of Congress.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the manager, Mr. Wilson, who I have traveled with as well, and I know his heart.
Madam Speaker, I rise and support the legislation, S. 3522, that will provide the President with the authority to lend and lease defense articles to be able to help in the fight.
Madam Speaker, but as I do that, realizing what we are standing for, I raise my button that says, ``We Stand With Ukraine,'' the very nation that is standing in the gap and fighting for the preservation of democracy around the world against the tyranny of autocracy and a one- man band and a one-man war.
We have all heard of the atrocities that this violent dictator has chosen to wage against the innocent people of Ukraine, a country that wants nothing more than to love, to live, and to live under a democratic regime. But let me tell you the story of what they face every day.
Mariupol, the people who are there under siege do not know whether or not the soldiers, the injured soldiers, civilians, and children will ever come out alive. Or the mother who held her 3-month-old baby with her family members in her own apartment, seeking refuge and bombed by the Russians.
Or the little girl, 16 years old, who was told to take off her clothes to be raped by a Russian soldier, and to be raped again and again.
For the children who sat amongst the bodies of their parents, for the children who themselves were killed in Mariupol and around the nation, for those who lost loved ones who are fleeing through universal humanitarian routes that are known in every war.
I recall, as a Member of the United States Congress, going to the Bosnian War, Albanian Civil War, Iraq, Afghanistan. I don't think I have ever seen a direct and deliberate attack on civilians as Vladimir Putin's war has done.
So this is a crucial moment in our history. We have our responsibilities to America. We have the responsibilities of securing the southern border. I just spent hours in the Committee on the Judiciary where my friends on the other side of the aisle decided to take up one issue, the attack about title 42.
On this floor, just a few hours ago, there was a constant rampant voice of title 42 regarding the southern border when we were discussing this bill under the rule.
I want the American people to know that talk is cheap, and what we should be doing now is realizing that this is serious business. We must pass this legislation.
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Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, the gentleman is extremely kind for the passion that I have.
Madam Speaker, we must pass this legislation to deal with not only the lend-lease on defense articles, but to be able to provide the necessary humanitarian relief as well.
Madam Speaker, I conclude my remarks by saying that the children have to be prioritized. When I was in Ukraine on the border and visiting a reception center, I saw the faces of the children. Unaccompanied children should be registered. Children with parents should be registered. We should be focused, as UNICEF says, to eliminate the nightmare that the children are facing, the death that they face, the injury that they face, and to prioritize it and to make sure that children can face the trauma that this war is.
As we do that, let us continue to bolster up the American people's support and let us address their needs, because they have needs, but let us make sure that the victory is ours.
Finally, I am grateful for one of our hostages coming home; he lives in Texas. There are two more that we know that are well-known, and we must bring home both of them, including the Olympian that plays in Russia and who is a WNBA star. We must bring them home.
Madam Speaker, I support this legislation and ask all my colleagues to support this important legislation.
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from the great State of Tennessee (Mr. Cohen).
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Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the very distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan).
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Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.
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Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute.
Madam Speaker, I think it is important to note that S. 3522 is a smart and critical step to give another piece of artillery to the administration so that it has flexibility as it needs to provide Ukraine the support that it needs so that it has the ability to win.
It is also important to show, and that is why it is important for us to be on the floor today, as Mr. Wilson has indicated, the unity that we have here in the United States House of Representatives.
Madam Speaker, I will tell you that working with Mr. McCaul and Mr. Wilson and Mrs. Spartz on the other side of the aisle, as well as with all of my colleagues on the committee on the Democratic side of the aisle, and working with the Speaker and the majority leader, it is that unity that is going to win this war.
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time, and I am very grateful that next we will have the Speaker of the House.
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Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the great Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, in closing, this bill calls on the administration to supply the defense articles needed to defeat war criminal Putin's forces, and for the land of Ukraine to be returned to its rightful and lawful inhabitants, the courageous people of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian fight is a fight of freedom-loving people around the world. This is part of authoritarianism, which is rule of gun opposing democracy, rule of law.
America stands with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, with President Salome Zourabichvili of the Republic of Georgia, President Maia Sandu of Moldova, and with the rightful President, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, of Belarus.
Additionally, as we are discussing Lend-Lease, I had the extraordinary opportunity with Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo in 2005, to visit, sadly, the world's largest open cemetery in Saint Petersburg, the victims, half a million people of the siege of Leningrad. And we were there to show the love and affection of the United States to the people of Russia.
We were there to also find out that it was American Lend-Lease equipment that provided for the defeat of Hitler and for the saving, actually, of the Putin family. And so, Lend-Lease has a long proud history of providing for freedom successfully.
In December, I visited the courageous Ukrainian patriots in Kyiv. I am confident Ukraine will win for freedom and independence. We are all inspired by the Ukrainian-American Congresswoman Victoria Spartz of Indiana, and over a million dynamic Ukrainian Americans who are successful across America.
I urge all Members to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume for the purpose of closing.
Madam Speaker, as we stand here right now, in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Secretary Antony Blinken is testifying and talking about his recent visit to Kyiv, asking--well, replying to questions that Members on both sides are asking.
And the sense of unity that has been talked about here today, about us being united against Putin's aggression, about us standing together and trying to make sure that we do all that we can to help the Ukrainian people, and that unity, that unity, is what is going to make sure that we preserve democracies around the world.
It is the unity that we have seen with the United States in the lead, keeping 30 NATO countries together, which no one thought would happen before this incursion.
It is the unity of bringing our Asian allies together. It is the unity bringing our Western Hemisphere allies together. It is the unity bringing our African allies together.
It is that unity right here in the United States Congress. Working together is what is going to prevail.
There was a question asked before I left the hearing. One Member said he was at a townhall meeting, and someone asked the question: Well, what does this mean to me? That was the question.
Secretary Blinken said, with which I agree: What does it mean? Well, when you look at what is at stake, number one, the world is asking: What happens? Are there any consequences for a country that decides just to go invade someone else's sovereign property? If we allow that to happen, if it could happen there, it could happen anywhere.
The questions of what we do, what we stand for, who we are, and what our values are, are on the line right now, not only in Ukraine but for all of us who believe in democracy.
When you look at the consequences and the lack of care of the rest of the world by this invasion by Mr. Putin--we are going to have to do hearings now to talk about starvation. People around the world will starve because of the lack of wheat.
We are looking at what he tried to utilize with reference to energy resources. It has a reverberation back here in the United States as we are looking at what is taking place with rising oil costs, with rising food costs.
This is about us around the world, some, yes, making sacrifices so that we can show the world that unity. And together, we will prevent evil from occurring.
We have seen it once in the 1940s. I never thought I would have to see and fight it again in 2022. This is a trying time for the camera of history, which is rolling.
I, again, thank Mr. McCaul because I have been working very closely with my ranking member to make sure that we have one voice on this. We have talked often and made sure that we are working in a bipartisan manner. I thank Mr. Wilson for managing this bill on the floor and working collectively together in that regard. I thank the leadership on both sides of the aisle because with that, Ukraine will win.
When Ukraine wins, the American people win; the world wins; democracy wins.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
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