Provision of Costs of Loan Guarantees For Ukraine

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to bring to the floor H.R. 4152, a bill providing the authority for loan guarantees for Ukraine.

As we all sadly know, Ukraine is facing an extraordinarily difficult time. As a valued partner and friend of the United States, our Nation has a duty to provide the people of Ukraine with help when they now need it most.

This bill will provide some stability for the government and the people of Ukraine as they navigate through these troubled waters. The legislation before us will allow funds to be used to guarantee loans for the Government of Ukraine, in support of the Secretary of State's $1 billion pledge this week. This bill does not appropriate new funds, but simply allows funds to be used from existing State Department resources.

Ukraine's economy has been in a difficult position for years, but now the country faces, of course, real risks. Russia has punished Ukraine for leaning toward the West and has suspended the assistance they planned to provide.

This bill will not solve all of Ukraine's problems, obviously, but it is an important first step that will allow the country to shore up its finances and begin to make its economy more efficient.

With this legislation, Congress--and the United States--will show that we stand by those that oppose authoritarian rule. It will show that, as a nation, we will step up to help the people of Ukraine not only with our words, but with our deeds.

Ukraine is facing an uncertain economic future, Mr. Speaker, but they are choosing the right path of democracy and reform. The American people will stand with the Ukrainian people as they chart this new course, and today we will take a first step to quickly respond to their present need.

Mr. Speaker, this is a critically important bill and one that should pass the House and the Senate and be enacted into law without delay. I urge a ``yes'' vote.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I want to thank the gentlelady for cosponsoring this legislation and working in a bipartisan fashion to be sure that it is brought up in the quickest possible manner, which this is. Like you and the others who have spoken, I am proud of our committee for acting expeditiously and doing the right thing at the right time.

It is really a sad, sad, sad state of affairs that we find in Ukraine. I remember going there many years before when it was still a part of the Soviet Union under Communist rule and visiting the wonderful church where the Eastern Orthodox Church was born in Kiev and going through the labyrinth, the catacombs; and today, to realize that that peaceful, wonderful place, the home of Christianity, really, in that part of the world, is being torn apart by people of no faith is doubly troubling.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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