Hoyer: Mr. Speaker, Ukraine and Israel Cry Out for America’s Help and Leadership
WASHINGTON, DC — Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) delivered the following remarks on the House Floor today, urging House Speaker Mike Johnson (LA-04) to immediately bring legislation that provides unconditioned aid to our allies Israel and Ukraine to the House Floor. Below is a transcript of his remarks and a link to the video:
“Madam Speaker, we leave today, a day early - essentially a four-day week, thus means that 25% of the work that we were planning to do, we are not going to do. We leave, I think, because we either can't do our work, or we won't be allowed to do our work.
“Madam Speaker, I rise again as I have so many times when we were leaving without doing the critical business of America and the world. I rise again for our allies in Ukraine and Israel. I rise for the defense of democracy, and freedom, and people who are fighting for their very survival as a democracy.
“The other week, I read a story, Madam Speaker, about the desperate situation on the frontlines outside of Kharkiv, in Ukraine. A Ukrainian air-defense soldier positioned outside the city spotted a salvo of Russian missiles rising over the horizon. He stood there helplessly. His unit lacked the equipment and ammunition necessary to shoot missiles down. Within minutes, the missiles struck a residential complex, killing numerous civilians. And yet we stand here ready to walk out of this chamber - our work undone.
“The soldier later told a journalist, ‘I understood they would fly and hit people, and I couldn’t do anything to prevent it from happening.’ He was right; there was nothing he could have done because he did not have the weapons that were necessary. The Congress, of course, cannot say the same. We can do something. We must do something. This Congress stands silent in this House. The Senate has acted - late, but it’s never too late to do the right thing, but this Congress remains silent. For 413 days, our Congress has failed to secure additional aid for Ukraine. For 131 days we have failed to do the same for Israel.
“This [inaction] is born not of a lack of consensus, because we have over 300 votes on this Floor for either one of those bills, and I think the Senate bill. Instead, we see Trump and [the] far-right’s outstanding sympathy for Putin. Senator Tuberville said ‘blame America first’ just the other day. It’s our fault. We made Putin, a war criminal, invade Ukraine.
“All seven times supplemental aid for Ukraine came to the House Floor in recent months, over 300 Members supported it. So it is not the question that we do not have consensus, it is that the Speaker will not allow consensus to be spoken.
“The Senate just passed a bill to provide this aid to our allies with 70 votes – 70% of the Senate sent us a bill.
“The question is not whether this legislation would receive enough votes to pass this House. The question is whether Speaker Johnson will give us the opportunity to vote on it at all. Refusal to do so, refusal to do so is causing Ukrainians to die.
“Mr. Speaker, you are preventing the People’s House from working its will as the Senate did.
“Give the victims of Putin’s war crimes a vote, Mr. Speaker. Give Ukraine hope, Mr. Speaker. Tell Putin: ‘Nyet.’ Every minute we don’t signals retreat instead of resolve.
“Incomprehensibly, Trump amplified that dangerous message over the weekend, explicitly saying he would not only refuse to defend our NATO allies but would encourage the Russians ‘to do whatever the hell they want.’
“Is that America? Is that the leadership we want to portray to the world? Is that the leader of the free world? Mute.
“That, Mr. Speaker, is aid and comfort to our enemies.
“Those aren’t the words of someone who seeks to lead the free world. They are the words of someone who would turn his back on the free world. Every Republican – no matter what office they hold or seek – ought to go on record and condemn those comments.
“Governor Christie would agree with that statement.
“Putin salivates, ladies and gentlemen of this House, at this inaction and division sown by the isolationist, authoritarian-loving factions of one of our parties that leads this House.
“That’s why he recently sat down with Tucker Carlson.
“Speaker, give us a vote. We have the votes. [Ukraine] and Israel cry out for America’s help and leadership. And I yield back the balance of my time.”