Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of military assistance for Israel and Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific, all regions in which our Nation has forged critical strategic alliances. Make no mistake, in a dangerous world, these precious alliances help secure liberty forward against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

The largest land war since the Second World War is raging on Europe's continent at the eastern edge in Ukraine following Russia's initial brutal invasion in 2014.

The question before us is: What is liberty's worth for our generation? We are not being asked to fight, but only to aid Ukraine's valiant soldiers to drive Russia, the third largest military in the world, out of their homeland.

It is day 617 of that brutal war. Few believed Ukraine could shoulder this wretched war beyond a few weeks, but Ukraine's will to win inspires us and subjugated people everywhere.

Over centuries, Ukrainians survived the absolute butchery of Lenin, Stalin, and now Putin, all tyrannical mass murderers. No place on Earth lost more lives to mass murder and forced starvation than did Ukraine during the 20th century, 10 million to 14 million people, only God knows.

Now is the time to turn a page for liberty in the annals of history. This GOP's leadership's willful ignorance of the history of Russian oppression and murder is mind-bending. The necessity for America, the leader of the free world, to defend liberty, will prevent the blood of Putin's tyranny running across not just more of Ukraine, but of Europe and likely other places, including the Middle East.

Putin has refused to condemn Hamas and has gone as far as comparing Israel's defensive actions to Nazi Germany's seize of Leningrad. In return, Hamas has called Russia its friend.

They understand these conflicts are connected. Why don't we?

Vote ``no,'' the imperative vote for liberty.

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