Hoyer: If We Are to Defend Democracy Then We, Ukraine, and The Free World Must Stand as One
WASHINGTON, DC — Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) spoke on the House Floor this morning about the need for bipartisan support for Ukraine ahead of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to the U.S. Capitol. Below is a transcript and link to his full remarks:
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“Mr. Speaker, when Vladimir Putin and his autocratic regime launched their brutal, criminal invasion of Ukraine in February of last year, many people predicted that the Ukrainians would throw down their arms and surrender within days. Eighteen months later, however, burnt-out husks of Russian tanks litter the Ukrainian countryside.
“Blue and gold flags fly proudly over Kyiv, Kherson, Lyman, and other towns held or liberated by Ukrainian forces. Russian soldiers surrender, desert, and dodge conscription in droves. Meanwhile, defenders of democracy stand firm with Ukrainian courage in their hearts and Western weapons in their hands.
“Ukrainians stand strong because Americans and Brits and Danes and Germans and French and other freedom-loving peoples around the world stand united behind them. That unity, my friends, is crucial now more than ever, as the war-mongering dictators of the world – Vladimir Putin, Kim-Jong Un, and Xi Jinping – have all come together.
“We are locked in a struggle between freedom and fascism, democracy and despotism, might and right. The war in Ukraine is that struggle manifest.
“President Zelenskyy returns to our Capitol this week, tomorrow, to remind us that the fate not only of his sovereign democratic nation but of the free world hinges on this conflict. He recognizes that our international cooperation to preserve democracy depends on our cooperation here in the Congress of the United States.
“Democrats and Republicans have found consensus on this issue in the past, securing vital military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. We must keep working in a bipartisan fashion to ensure that the Ukrainians receive whatever tools and resources they need to succeed on the battlefield. Because only the ‘great arsenal of democracy’ as we said during World War II, can vanquish an ‘axis of evil.’
“I echo what President Truman said to Congress in 1952 when trying to secure further aid for a war-torn Europe, he said this: ‘If through inaction we desert the cause of democracy, the democratic hope may be exterminated in broad areas of this earth.’ We must not let that happen.
“President Truman called on Congress, as I urge you now, to ‘add powerful momentum to the democratic counter-offensive which inspires in the people of the world a sense of their own destiny as free men,’ and women.
“We have built up that momentum steadily over the last year and a half. Imagine how much more it will grow in the months ahead if the free world maintains its resolve – if this Congress maintains its resolve.
“When President Zelenskyy arrives in our Capitol corridors tomorrow, he should not have to plead for more support. Instead, we ought to show him that we are committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure that action prevails over inaction, that democracy triumphs over autocracy, and that Ukraine emerges victorious over Russia.
“Like the martyrs who gave their lives on the Lexington Common in 1775 and Kyiv’s Maidan in 2014, we will show the world that we will do everything to protect our democratic principles.
“If we are to defend democracy, Mr. Speaker, at home and around the world – if we are to defeat the despots, dictators, and dealers of destruction – then we, Ukraine, and the free world must stand as one.
“Our words supporting freedom will ring very hollow if not coupled by our actions to defend freedom. As President Kennedy said, ‘here and around the world,’ let us defend the democracy we hold dear.”