00:00We will now consider log number 5616 by the ranking member Mr. Smith. For what
00:08purposes gentlemen from Washington State seek recognition? I have an amendment at
00:12the desk. Will the clerk please distribute the amendment without
00:15objection. The reading of the amendments dispensed with the chair now recognizes
00:18the ranking member for the purpose of explaining his amendment. Thank you. This
00:21is a similar amendment on stocks that we have procured specifically for Europe.
00:26As has been mentioned by a number of people we want Europe to step up and be
00:31more responsible for their own defense and also they are part of supporting
00:36Ukraine. There's certainly agreement in the Trump administration that they want
00:40Europe to take more responsibility for that fight. If we have procured stocks
00:44for Europe specifically we should not be able to grab them back. It's a similar
00:49argument. I imagine the opponents will make a similar argument against this and
00:52the only thing I would emphasize again is a point I made before.
00:56Europe sorry Ukraine is where the fight is at right now. If we stop Putin in
01:03Ukraine that's going to make it easier everywhere. Iran is cooperating very
01:08closely with Russia. Russia gets stronger we got bigger problems in the Middle East.
01:12We have the opportunity to stop them in Ukraine. That should be our priority. We
01:18shouldn't be taking weapons away from there. That will only cause us more
01:21problems in every other theater that we can think of. So I urge support for the
01:25amendment and yield back. The gentleman yields back and recognizes himself. I must
01:29oppose this amendment like the amendment before on Ukraine. There is no effort to
01:33divert weapons from our European allies. However if a crisis occurs in the
01:38Middle East or Pacific we need to give the commander-in-chief the flexibility to
01:42respond to that crisis and protect our troops. For that reason I urge members to
01:47oppose this amendment. And is there any other member that wishes to speak on this
01:52amendment? If there's no further debate the question occurs on the amendment
01:56offered by Mr. Smith. So many who's in favor will say aye. Those opposed no.
02:00The no's have it. Recorded votes requested. Recorded vote will be postponed.
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