Ukraine Support Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, for over a year, the House Republican leadership has yielded to Donald Trump's peculiar friendship with Vladimir Putin and blocked action on this measure.

Every day that Republicans look the other way, Ukrainians die. Over 55,000 of them have perished. Over 20,000 children have been kidnapped. The war that Trump promised to end in a single day is now in its fifth murderous year.

Trump has continued to send signals to Vladimir Putin that his brutal aggression is okay. He has reduced U.S. direct support for Ukraine by 99 percent. He has withheld even the modest funds that this Congress approved last year. He has removed American troops from Europe, diverted essential defensive weapons that would protect Ukrainians elsewhere, and remained silent while Putin destroyed American businesses in Ukraine and provided intelligence to Iran to target Americans. Most recently, he has indicated to NATO that when Putin creates a further crisis, the U.S. will offer less, if any, help.

As Putin tests the resolve of the civilized world, Trump has shown that he has no resolve. He is too weak to lead and too reckless to be followed.

With my own name on some of the first sanctions legislation that this Congress approved against Russia and with two of the measures that I have authored since then incorporated in this measure, I am glad to see that we finally get some action.

Since March, thanks to Trump's incredible lifting of sanctions, Vladimir Putin is getting about $200 million a day, including today, in revenue to oil his war machine.

Tonight, let's unite to resist the appeasers and seek a victory for everyone in this world who values self-determination, democracy, and freedom.

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