00:00We will now consider log number 52, I'm sorry, 5620 by Mr. Smith.
00:06For what purposes, gentlemen, from Washington seek recognition?
00:08I have an amendment at the desk, Mr. Chairman.
00:10Will the clerk please distribute the amendment without objection.
00:12The reading of the amendment is dispensed with.
00:14The chair recognizes the ranking member for the purpose of explaining his amendment.
00:18Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:19This amendment and the next four are all basically the same subject.
00:23You know, are we going to continue our support for Ukraine as they try to defend themselves against the Russian invasion?
00:32So, I mean, there are different pieces to each one, but this will be the overall debate of whether or not this committee wants to strongly express our support for Ukraine in this conflict.
00:43I feel very strongly that we should and that we need to.
00:47The first amendment here adds $100 million to the USAI account.
00:51We have supported it at the level of $300 million before.
00:56I think the urgency commands that we step up that commitment.
01:00And on this particular amendment, I'll just make two arguments.
01:03One is given the ambivalence that we have seen from the Trump administration since the start,
01:10it is undermining support for Ukraine and emboldening Vladimir Putin to think that if he just holds out long enough,
01:17we will abandon Ukraine and contribute to the collapse of the 53-nation coalition that has come together to help Ukraine defend itself.
01:26I think it's really important for Congress to make it clear that we don't want to see that happen.
01:31We don't want to see that support collapse.
01:33And understand I am sympathetic with the Trump administration's desire to end this war and their stated goal to get to peace.
01:41But you will not get to peace if Putin sees weakness.
01:46If he sees that we're walking away from Ukraine, his actions could not possibly be clearer in the last several months.
01:53He increases the attack.
01:56He increases all the bombings across Ukraine and presses forward trying to get to his maximalist goals.
02:03We need to show that we support Ukraine in order to stop that from happening.
02:08So number one is to try to send a message to the Trump administration to keep up the fight.
02:14Number two is to send a message to Ukraine and Putin on the same topic.
02:19I think those are two solid reasons to increase this.
02:22I have a couple of other arguments, but I'll save those for later amendments.
02:26I urge adoption of this amendment and I yield back.
02:29Gentleman yields back.
02:30Chair, I recognize Mr. Wilson of South Carolina.
02:32Thank you, Chairman Mike Rogers.
02:34I support this amendment.
02:37There is strong bipartisan support, Republicans and Democrats, for the people of Ukraine.
02:42The Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, USAI, allows the United States to support Ukraine's successful fight against war criminal Putin's unprovoked invasion.
02:54The Ukrainians are bravely defending their country and devastating Russian military.
02:58A courageously defending the sovereignty of the people for the people of Ukraine.
03:05The axis of dictators with rule of gun is clear that Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are working together, chanting death to America.
03:16As long as the current dictators enslave their countries, national security will be at risk, along with world stability.
03:26I'm grateful to President Donald Trump for his recent announcement for allowing NATO allies to buy the weapons necessary to send to Ukraine.
03:33President Trump continues his willingness to support Ukraine, and we should provide him with all the necessary options.
03:39Moscow today mocked and insulted President Trump again by belittling his support of Ukrainian sovereignty, quote, as, quote, theatrical ultimatum, end of quote, by President Trump,
03:58as war criminal Putin murders civilians in Ukraine, and murders dissenting government officials in Russia.
04:05We all support ensuring stockpiles are filled to the appropriate levels.
04:10This can be achieved as American and allied defense industries are facing the challenge of the axis of evil,
04:17as the axis of evil conducts the largest peacetime military buildup in history.
04:22I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.
04:25I yield back.
04:26Chairman, I recognize the gentleman from Nebraska, Mr. Bacon.
04:30Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
04:31I appreciate the ranking member for this amendment.
04:34I plan on voting for this amendment.
04:36A Russian victory will cost us more.
04:40We have to realize that.
04:42It probably means Moldova will fall if Ukraine doesn't survive this.
04:47Maybe Georgia.
04:49Possibly Azerbaijan.
04:50Trump would portray us just the other day, said Lithuania would likely be next.
04:55There will be challenged in the Baltics.
04:57We know from when we're young, if you don't stop a bully, they keep coming at you.
05:03And we've got to stand up to this guy.
05:04And the Ukrainians are doing the fighting, but they need our weapon support to survive.
05:09It's in our national security interest that we prevail here.
05:12I yield.
05:12Gentlemen, I recognize the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Vindman.
05:17Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
05:19Look, it's great to see President Trump finally coming around to understand that what many of
05:24us known all along, that Putin is our enemy.
05:27The only way this war comes to a halt is pressure on Putin.
05:30I'd like to see the president slap the table on this and put pressure on Russia right now.
05:35But it looks like we're going to wait another 49 days.
05:39It seems to me we're kind of at the leading edge of an irreversible shift towards Ukraine
05:46and NATO here, which is the right direction.
05:49Something we should have been doing all along.
05:51The only way to end this war in Ukraine is to put pressure on Putin.
05:57And the best way to do that is send Ukraine more weapons as soon as possible.
06:01This is a bipartisan issue.
06:03Last week, I led 54 colleagues in urging the immediate resumption of munitions shipments
06:08to Ukraine.
06:09I'm glad to see some of those weapons are finally moving.
06:12But 10 Patriot missiles isn't going to get the president the end of the war the Ukrainian
06:18people deserve.
06:18We need to send massive shipments now and put pressure on Russia instead of Ukraine.
06:24We need to keep the pressure on Putin.
06:26History tells us he only responds to strength and nothing less.
06:30The only way we make progress here and achieve the president's stated objective of peace in
06:36Ukraine and Europe is by putting pressure on Putin.
06:40This is in our national interest as Russia has aligned itself with Iran and China, and North
06:45Korea, for that matter, against freedom-loving countries like our allies and the United States,
06:51our own values.
06:53Supporting Ukraine is more than a moral imperative.
06:56It's a national security necessity.
06:58I've been to Ukraine 14 times with the State Department investigating Russian war crimes.
07:02I've seen the stakes firsthand.
07:04I've seen the destruction rain down on Ukrainian cities and Ukrainian infrastructure.
07:09I've been to Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel, all of those names that are burned into our memory
07:13as war crime sites.
07:16We must continue to support Ukraine until Putin is forced to go to the negotiating table and
07:22only on terms that respect Ukrainian sovereignty and our own national security objectives.
07:27The peace we negotiate must be acceptable to the Ukrainian people.
07:31I urge support for this amendment.
07:34I yield back.
07:35Gentleman yields back.
07:36Chair, I recognize the gentleman from Missouri.
07:37Mr. Bell.
07:40I had an opportunity to go on my first CODEL to the Middle East with the ranking member,
07:46actually.
07:46And the biggest takeaway for me was that stability is hard, but democracy is even harder.
07:55And when it takes root, we must do everything we can to support it.
08:01If we abandon Ukraine, we embolden every authoritarian watching from Moscow to Beijing to Tehran.
08:09Our adversaries are calculating our resolve.
08:13Weakness here invites aggression elsewhere.
08:15So this amendment ensures that no bureaucratic or political actors can quietly disrupt our support
08:23for our partner fighting for its sovereignty.
08:27If aid is delayed or cut, the president must take responsibility and inform top national security
08:33officials in writing.
08:35But it's important that we send a message that we stand with our fellow democracies.
08:40I yield my time.
08:42Gentleman yields back.
08:43Chair, I recognize the gentleman from California, Mr. Garamendi.
08:49Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
08:52And I'm delighted with what appears to be bipartisan support for Ukraine.
08:58We've been at this, some of us, throughout the entire Ukraine experience, beginning with Crimea,
09:04and even before that, Georgia, and we had an opportunity over those years to understand
09:12that Putin is going to continue until there's an unstoppable force, and that is Ukraine.
09:22Ukraine has proven that they're going to fight for their future.
09:26What they absolutely need is American support.
09:29I was just thinking about last summer and the way in which there was a seven, almost an eight-month
09:38halt in the munitions that America was sending in the run-up to the summer, and Ukraine was
09:47short of munitions, usually like 10 to 1, 155 howitzers.
09:52Our ranking member is so correct to put forth this issue and to make sure that we're dealing
10:02with it here.
10:04The details here are $100 million is important, but also the way in which this particular amendment
10:09is structured.
10:11There may be some that are concerned, well, we're not going to build a frigate.
10:14Well, the frigate is in trouble to begin with, but if there's a need for a frigate, there's
10:19all the money in the shipbuilding, $29 billion to build ships in the reconciliation so that
10:29it could be backfilled.
10:30This $100 million is not only necessary, but it is a clear commitment that this committee,
10:35which I hope would unanimously vote for these amendments that Mr. Smith has put forward, stands
10:41firmly with Ukraine.
10:42There's a political piece to that, and that is, are we willing to stand with Ukraine?
10:49We must.
10:50We really don't have a choice for the reasons that the members, Democrat and Republican,
10:54have put forward.
10:56With that, Mr. Chairman, our...
10:59Gentlemen, yield.
11:01The chair now recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr. Carbohal.
11:04Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
11:06We must continue to stand with Ukraine as they fight against Russia.
11:09Putin invaded a sovereign nation unprovoked, and if we stand by and let it happen, we are
11:15complicit and bowing down to dictators.
11:18We countries do not fall before dictators.
11:21They stand up to them in support for the fight for freedom and democracy.
11:26If we allow Putin to succeed now, he will not stop.
11:29He has called the collapse of the USSR the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.
11:36He said this about the same century where we saw two world wars.
11:41Make no mistake, Putin intends to continue grabbing old pieces of the Soviet Union to put it back together.
11:47It will save more lives and cost less money to deal with him now.
11:52If he invades the Baltic nations, all of NATO will be involved in a following war.
11:58Putin is backed by China, Iran, and North Korea.
12:01If that doesn't make clear what side the United States should be on, then we are blind.
12:07We must continue providing aid to Ukraine.
12:09To delay or stop the full aid we can provide is to side with the dictator.
12:15I urge support of this amendment.
12:16I yield back, Mr. Chair.
12:19The gentleman yields back.
12:20Does any of the members seek recognition on the ranking member's amendment?
12:25If there is no further debate, the question occurs on the amendment offered by the ranking member.
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