- 1 year ago
During a House Armed Services Committee hearing, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) spoke about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office.
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00:00We will now consider log number 4964 by Ms. Mace of South Carolina. For what
00:07purposes General Lady from South Carolina seek recognition? Mr. Chairman I have an
00:10amendment at the desk. Will the clerk please distribute the amendment without
00:14objection. The reading of the amendment is dispensed with. The chair recognizes
00:17General Lady for the purpose of explaining her amendment. Thank you Mr.
00:21Chairman and we go from one amendment that is America last to one that is
00:25America first. Today I offer an amendment to remove funding for the Ukraine
00:29security assistance initiative because the American people are done footing the
00:33bill for endless foreign wars. The American people spoke loudly last November.
00:38They want peace. They want an end to foreign entanglements and for their
00:42representatives to actually put their interests above those of foreign nations.
00:47To date we spend over 170 billion dollars in aid to Ukraine and what do we have to
00:53show for it? A black hole where accountability should be and a war with
00:57no end in sight. All to prop up President Zelensky who cancels
01:01elections in his country while interfering in the presidential election in ours.
01:06After his failed attempt to campaign for Kamala Harris, President Zelensky
01:10showed up to the Oval Office and instead of showing gratitude to the American
01:13people, he acted like an insolent child toward President Trump.
01:17It's time we stop asking the American people to carry the burden of this war.
01:21It's not, it's simply not in our interest to do so.
01:23For decades, this body has operated under the delusion that we can police the entire
01:27world, topple unfriendly regimes without consequences and turn every nation in the
01:32world into a liberal Western democracy. There's been an utter lack of thought for
01:36the one thing which matters most. How does American involvement make life better for
01:40the American citizens we represent? This amendment is not about choosing sides,
01:44it's about choosing responsibility to the American taxpayer and putting the American people first.
01:49Our national debt is over 37 trillion and counting and our nation teeters on fiscal catastrophe.
01:54Every time Congress approves more aid, we put more debt on the backs of American taxpayers.
02:00We have real problems in this country. Walk outside this building and across our nation's capital
02:04and you'll see it. Visit California, where the liberals are literally burning cities to the ground,
02:10Antifa and illegals. Just blocks away from where we sit, it's not funny watching, watching cities burn
02:16under Gavin Newsom. We see American citizens being gunned down in broad daylight, homeless veterans
02:21sleeping on our streets, crumbling infrastructure and open air drug use. Every dollar sent to Ukraine
02:28is a dollar stolen from the American people. Congress has continuously signed off on war on behalf of
02:35a country most people can't find on a map. No one can coherently explain why it's international
02:40interest to do this. No one can tell us what victory looks like. No one can tell us what the end game is
02:44and no one can explain our exit strategy or even if we have one. And no one can tell us how much
02:49additional American treasure we will have to spill in Ukraine. For years, while NATO pushed eastward
02:55despite Russia's repeated warnings, our NATO allies underinvested in their own defenses and counted on
03:00the American people to bail them out. Americans don't want another forever war. Americans don't want
03:05to keep paying for Zelensky's photo ops and they sure as hell don't want their sons and daughters to
03:09die in the Donbass. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield
03:14back. Gentle lady yields back. Chair and I recognize the gentle lady from, oh, the chair recognizes the
03:19ranking member. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I spoke why we should support Ukraine to some detail, but just a
03:25couple things. I mean, just voted to increase the debt by nearly four trillion dollars. I mean, I just don't
03:30think you should be able to talk about the debt after you take a vote like that. Second of all, yes, I agree.
03:35The American people do not want the United States of America to send our troops to fight in wars.
03:41I think we've learned some really strong lessons about what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan,
03:45but there are no American troops fighting in Ukraine. We want to prevent that from happening
03:52by keeping peace and stability in the world so that it doesn't crumble into that direction. So to use the
03:59wars where we did send American troops, and in many cases mistakenly, as an excuse for not stopping
04:05what Putin is doing in Eastern Europe completely misses the point. And we are not trying to create
04:12a liberal democracy. Ukraine was a free democracy before Putin invaded in an attempt to destroy it.
04:21In a relatively low cost way, we are keeping peace and stability in a part of the world that could
04:29easily turn in the other direction. This is an excellent investment in that. And the end game,
04:35as I said in the first point, is to stop Putin so he's forced to the table. As has been outlined,
04:42there is no evidence that he's going to stop in the Donbass, or at Kyiv, or in Moldova, or elsewhere.
04:49Secretary Hegseth, before he was secretary, had a memorable way of putting it, saying,
04:53well, you know, in Ukraine, Putin just wants his stuff back. And what he meant by that, of course,
04:59was the Soviet empire that Putin has, you know, waxed nostalgic as the greatest tragedy of the 20th
05:05century, that it collapsed. Yeah, Mr. Secretary, you're right. He wants his stuff back. But there's a
05:12lot of stuff he wants. And if he's not stopped here, the conflict grows. And furthermore, if the message
05:20is sent, that you can simply take territory, if you have the military muscle to do it, that is a lesson
05:28that China will take. One way or the other, if this proves to be a disaster for Putin, a mistake
05:35that costs Russia more than it gains, China will learn that lesson. If we and the 53 nation coalition,
05:43it's not just us. It's 53 nations in this coalition. If we step back and let Putin take Ukraine and God
05:51knows what else, China will heed that message as well. That is why this is in our interests and why
05:58I urge opposition to this amendment. Chairman, I recognize the gentleman from Nebraska, Mr. Bacon.
06:03Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I echo the ranking members comments here as well. And we learned in the 1930s
06:08that saying, hey, what's going on over in Europe or what's going on in Asia, it doesn't affect us.
06:14We learned it didn't work. Isolationism did not work in the 1930s. The GOP was last isolationist in the
06:221930s. And we realized it didn't work. And we've ever since World War II have been advocates for peace
06:28through strength and having a strong alliance system and standing up to the bullying. And when we talk
06:33about those wars, we don't have any troops there. It's Ukraine that's trying to defend themselves
06:38against a barbaric invasion, against bombings every night in their cities. They just need our military
06:43help so they can win this war. And I echo the comments too. It's going to cost us more if Russia
06:49prevails. I'm telling you, Moldova will be next. And I'll put them right on the border of NATO.
06:56The Baltics could very well be next. Georgia is already being invaded by Russia at a smaller scale,
07:04but still the invasions going on. And Azerbaijan is under threat right now as we speak. And I think
07:09Americans voted for President Trump this last cycle because of the border and because of inflation.
07:16Yet every poll I see, it's typically around two to one in favor of Ukraine. So the Americans did not
07:23vote for that. They voted for other reasons for President Trump. And I am grateful that President
07:28Trump is seeing through Putin right now and pivoting on this strategy with Ukraine and now committing
07:35weapons to go to Ukraine. And I hope a lot more as we go on, as we go along. I yield.
07:40The gentleman yields back. Chair now recognizes the gentlelady from New Jersey, Ms. Cheryl.
07:44Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I strongly oppose this amendment. It's short-sighted. It goes against
07:50America's most fundamental values and would cripple our security interests in Europe.
07:55My colleague on the other side of the aisle is fond of saying she's putting America's interests first,
08:00but eliminating the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative is the complete opposite of putting
08:06America's interests first. There's no better investment in America's national security than
08:13our support for Ukraine. Russia is one of America's foremost adversaries in the world,
08:18and Vladimir Putin is hell-bent on destroying America's global leadership. Since he first became
08:24president, he has pushed a violent and ceaseless campaign to restore Russia to its Soviet-era strength.
08:30He has invaded Russia's neighbors, including Ukraine, multiple times, assassinated political
08:35enemies, and committed blatant acts of sabotage and terrorism in Europe and across the world.
08:41Vladimir Putin is America's enemy, and anyone who says differently is delusional. When Putin began his
08:47brutal invasion of Ukraine three years ago, he thought he would achieve victory in a matter of days.
08:52But he severely underestimated the courage, tenacity, and ingenuity of the Ukrainian people who have
08:58fought and died every day since that invasion to defend their country. So now hundreds of thousands
09:04of Russian soldiers have been killed, thousands of tanks and vehicles have been destroyed, hundreds of
09:09aircraft and helicopters have been shot down, and some of Russia's most formidable warships have been sunk.
09:14Every Russian tank that Ukrainians destroy on the battlefield, every missile they shoot out of the
09:20sky, every nuclear bomber they blow up on an airfield is one less that we have to worry about. And it is one
09:27less that the U.S. would have to destroy if we ever ended up at war with Russia. Ukraine is fighting our
09:32adversary and destroying its military. Even Trump agrees and seems to be starting to understand the threat that
09:40Putin poses. In just the last few days, he has expressed support for sending significant military
09:46aid to Ukraine. How is pulling U.S. assistance from Ukraine and strengthening Russia putting America's
09:52interests first? Moreover, the majority of U.S. money for Ukraine is spent right here in the United States
09:59purchasing munitions and equipment from American companies. This spending supports thousands of good
10:04paying jobs in places like New Jersey and South Carolina. Supporting Ukraine doesn't mean we are
10:10supporting some far-off war that doesn't impact us. Supporting Ukraine means helping them defeat our
10:15adversaries and supporting American workers. That's putting America's interests first and I yield back.
10:22Generality yields back. Chair and I recognize a gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Scott.
10:27Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll be brief on this, but I want this war to end. And if we want this war to end,
10:32there are two things that have to happen. One is we have to make sure that Ukrainians can defend themselves
10:38and we have to make sure that Ukrainians can deliver offensive punches, not just defensive punches.
10:43Now the mistakes that have been made in the past, Biden wouldn't allow the Ukrainians to play offense.
10:50We did not enforce the sanctions against countries that were buying oil from Russia that allowed
10:56Vladimir Putin to prop up his economy. And if we're honest, Europe, their banks continue to do business in Russia.
11:06And Europe, the European Union and Greece, sold almost 100 ships to Russia for the Russians to carry out
11:14their fleet so that they could sell their oil. So there's a lot of people in the world that are responsible for
11:19this Ukrainian war continuing at this stage. Now, why does it matter? Well, it matters because of democracy,
11:29but I would respectfully submit it also matters because of the global food supply. Odessa's port is
11:35probably the largest port from the standpoint of gross tonnage of food deliveries to the world and the global
11:43food supply. And the reason Putin wants to control the Black Sea is because it gives him control over
11:51a significant portion of the food supply of the world and that gives him control over a lot of economies
11:57and he's got to be stopped. So I want the war to end. I think the best way for the war to end
12:07is for us to enforce the sanctions against Russia and new sanctions too. But we got to, we got to give
12:16the Ukrainians the weapons they need to defend themselves until the sanctions are strong enough
12:21to cripple Russia's economy and Putin goes back into his own territory and takes care of Russians
12:27instead of picking on Ukrainians. With that, I yield back. Gentleman yields back. Chair and I recognize
12:33the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Binderman. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The General
12:38Lady's amendment and comments in favor of this amendment are frankly nonsensical, short-sighted,
12:43and filled with misinformation, in fact, Russian misinformation, and FSB talking points.
12:50Supporting Ukraine is in U.S. national security interest. And it's not just the values side of this
12:55argument that freedom and democracy, the things that this country fought a revolution to achieve.
13:04But it's also in our real tangible national security interest now and standing against
13:11an autocratic access that is obviously, very obviously forming with Iran, North Korea, China,
13:18and Russia. China is watching what we do in Ukraine. They're watching to see whether we abandon
13:25our allies in NATO, our partners in Ukraine that we've committed to supporting. We convinced Ukraine
13:36to give up its nuclear weapons in the 90s. They were the third biggest nuclear power in the world. We
13:45convinced them to give up those weapons. We made a commitment, whether you want to call it a soft
13:51commitment or otherwise. China is watching to see whether we back away from our commitments,
13:57and they will act accordingly in Taiwan. Further, the winds are obviously changing,
14:04and this amendment is contrary to the direction that this administration is heading in. The lady is
14:08on the wrong side. The general lady is on the wrong side. The war in Ukraine has provided untold
14:15benefits to the national security of this country, taking out some of the strategic bombers, taking out
14:22thousands of armored vehicles that were poised against us in Eastern Europe. And frankly,
14:32it's created space in places like Syria, where the Russians were too distracted in Ukraine to be able
14:39to reinforce Bashar al-Assad. And the same thing in Iran. The benefits are very obvious to me.
14:49And I think the general lady is wrong on this amendment. And I urge voting against it. Thank you. I yield back.
14:58Gentleman yields back. Chairman, I recognize the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Sorenson.
15:02Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
15:03I strongly oppose Congresswoman Mace's short-sighted amendment to cut funding for the Ukraine security
15:10initiative. When Americans speak, people around the world listen. When America stands by its allies,
15:19its allies stand by us. When we abandon our allies, the rest of the world wonders if we will abandon them.
15:28Letting Vladimir Putin win isn't just bad for Ukraine, it's bad for us.
15:32In the past few weeks, the city of Brovery experienced horrific shelling and a major drone
15:39attack at the hands of Russia. Brovery, Ukraine is the sister city of my hometown of Rockford, Illinois.
15:47Both cities have a place in my heart. The inconsistent messages from the White House
15:53are an embarrassment. The rest of the world is looking at us and either laughing or crying.
15:59While I'm glad our already congressionally appropriated military aid will be making its way to Ukraine,
16:07it should never be in question. I'm thankful that President Trump is finally beginning to understand
16:15who Putin really is. He's a man who says one thing and does something else. A dangerous autocrat who is
16:23hell-bent on doing anything he can to resurrect the Soviet Union. As Americans, we must remain
16:31unified. And the only thing the Congresswoman's amendment would do is make us weaker in the eyes
16:38of our adversaries. I urge my colleagues to be on the right side of this vote and on the right side of
16:45history. Vote no. I yield back. Gentleman yields back. Chairman, I recognize the gentleman from Louisiana.
16:50Mr. Higgins. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I support the amendment because I support the the cessation
16:56of feeding this war. There's been there's been zero
17:03intelligent definition of what victory would look like over there. You think Crimea is going back to
17:12Ukraine? You think they're getting back their eastern territories? You've fed them. I've been
17:20on the ground over there. I have in my heart love for the Ukrainian people and their and their stance
17:25for their for their own sovereignty and their freedom. I know what I know what that feels like.
17:32And you have fed them enough weaponry for their entire nation to be pounded into dust.
17:38And who's going to rebuild if you could define victory? If anyone in this body could define victory
17:49out of some fantastic imagination that Ukraine is going to defeat Russia?
17:57Russia? And get back what? Pre-19, pre-2014 lines? It's insanity. And if that would happen,
18:11funded by the American people with borrowed money that we don't have, we're currently 37 trillion
18:18dollars in debt. And the ranking member says that we voted to raise the debt. He knows that's not true.
18:22He knows that's not true. We raised the debt limit and decreased spending. And I think 37 trillion is not humorous, good sir.
18:35If this body were to run a one billion dollar surplus, it would require 37,000 years to address
18:43a 37 trillion dollar debt. And that is not funny. So the American people are indeed watching very carefully.
18:53should we continue to spend borrowed treasure on a war that this body is unable to define victory.
19:05I support the good lady's amendment and I take offense to the to the way she's been referenced here.
19:11She's certainly put her heart and her mind and her intentions into what she believes is best for the
19:19American people. And I understand where she's coming from. I support the president's diplomatic endeavor,
19:25including using the threat of enhanced military actions. But watch what he does. President Trump is 10,
19:3320 steps ahead of everybody in the room. And he knows that the end to this war is the only way to
19:41define victory. I support the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield.
19:46Mr. Chairman, I yield. The gentleman yields back. Tear down and recognize the gentleman from California,
19:50Mr. Garamendi. Well, sir, you certainly riled me up, but I'm going to let Mr. Smith have a go at you.
19:58I yield my time to Mr. Smith. I'm not going to have a go at anybody, but thank you very much. And
20:03just three quick points. One, to the extent that anyone was disrespectful to Ms. Mace, I certainly didn't
20:08hear it. I mean, I appreciate this. And we have different of opinion. We've expressed that difference of
20:12opinion. I don't think anyone said anything disrespectful. Second of all, I'm sorry, but you didn't just vote to
20:18increase the debt. That's a hard one to swallow. I apologize for laughing, but every single person who's
20:26analyzed that even your own side agrees that you increase the debt. The disagreement is by how much?
20:32So that one really threw me. But third, I will tell you what the definition of victory is. It is what
20:39the Biden administration said from time to time and then really struggled to stick to the message. I
20:45will grant you that. A sovereign democratic Ukraine that can defend itself and we don't wind up with a
20:53war against Russia. That is the definition of success. We are not insisting upon a particular set of
21:00borders. We are insisting that Putin stops his attempt to destroy Ukraine. That there is a sovereign
21:07democratic Ukraine when this is done. It will not be perfect to be sure, but to give up and let Putin
21:16destroy Ukraine, the goal is to stop that. Now, I'll grant you not everyone has been as clear as they
21:23should have been on that, but that has been the approach from the very start. A sovereign democratic
21:28Ukraine. The survival of Ukraine. That, I think, is achievable and that's what we should help them
21:34achieve. I yield back. Thank you. Oh my, Mr. Smith, you left me with a minute, 10 seconds.
21:43What's wrong with brevity?
21:45Exactly right. You just heard a definition of success from Mr. Smith. I'll give you a definition
21:55of defeat. Ukraine is overrun by Russia. Ukraine becomes a satellite of Russia or is absorbed into
22:04Russia. And then the next step is what Putin has said repeatedly for the last 25 years, and that is the
22:12reestablishment of the old Soviet Union, including the Warsaw Pact. So all of the Eastern European
22:22countries are at risk. The definition of defeat is Russia taking over, dominating in one or another way,
22:33Ukraine. Step one. Step two has been alluded to by our colleagues here. That's the definition of defeat.
22:41I yield back. The gentleman yields back. Chairman, I recognize the gentlelady from Pennsylvania,
22:46Ms. Houlihan. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I strongly, strongly oppose Representative Mace's amendment.
22:55It is absolutely insane to stop funding for Ukraine's security initiative at this point in time.
23:02I would encourage us, I would beg us to remember our history. Dare I say or ask people to do
23:10the research and understand that it is 1939 again here in this world. This is my father's teddy bear.
23:20It is a sawdust teddy bear that he brought over from Poland when he survived the Holocaust and World
23:26War II with his mom. He was born in what is now Ukraine, what was Poland at the time, in 1942, just days
23:35into and days away from Hitler's final solution. We know how this conflict will end because Putin has
23:43told us how it's going to end. We know where this is going because he has told us where this is going,
23:50to Georgia, to the Baltics, to Azerbaijan, and indeed to Lithuania, where Pennsylvania's partner nation,
23:57in Lithuania's soldiers are sitting right now as we speak. And then it's going, possibly, to Xi,
24:04because he's watching too, because they are watching too. The investment that we Americans are putting into this
24:13is pennies on the dollar in terms of what we get in return. These brave Ukrainian men and women who have fought
24:20for years on our behalves and put their lives on the line for us, for the democracies around the world,
24:27deserve our continued support. And I'm grateful that President Trump has finally seemingly seen the
24:34reality and the importance of support of Ukraine. I agree that this amendment is misplaced. It is an
24:42artifact of time and history, and it should be dismissed without regard. We must support Ukraine.
24:48The past is absolutely prologue, and I yield back.
24:52Generality yields back. Chairman, I recognize the gentleman, Mr. Vasquez.
24:56Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I may have missed something, Mr. Chair, and I want to make sure this
25:03doesn't go unaddressed. But what exactly do the California ice raids have anything to do with the
25:09Ukraine Security Initiative? We have got to stop scapegoating immigrants for every issue on the other
25:15side, because it has absolutely nothing to do with this subject matter. We should be treating this
25:20committee with the respect that it deserves and staying on top of it and talking about Ukraine and
25:24our national interest in the Baltic. And I respect the other side when they make coherent and logical
25:30arguments as to why we should be pulling out. Those are good discussions for us to have here.
25:35But I don't believe the Ukraine Security Initiative has anything to do with California ice raids,
25:40unless I'm mistaken, unless there's some secret Ukraine cartel organization that's smuggling
25:44Central Americans into California. If that's the case, then I will retract my comments. But as far
25:50as I know, using immigrants to scapegoat an issue about the Ukraine Security Initiative? Give me a break.
25:56This has nothing to do with immigrants. I urge my colleagues to strongly oppose this amendment.
26:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman yields back. Chairman, I recognize the gentleman from Missouri, Mr. Bell.
26:05You know, thank you, Mr. Chair. My colleague talked about how likely is it to defeat for Ukraine to
26:16defeat Russia. And I would just say, let's just go back and look at history. There was this,
26:21I read about this small colony that took on the baddest, biggest superpower the world had ever seen,
26:29and won its independence. And so I would remind this body to not forget who we are. We are the,
26:38we are the legacy of democracy. And democracy is hard. It's tough. When it takes root, we have to support
26:48it, as we said before, but let's not forget who we are. And we are sworn enemy. We get an opportunity
26:59to take on our sworn enemy without using any of our troops. There's a disconnect here. I don't understand
27:09what the, what the issue is here, when we're talking about a democracy that is fighting for its
27:16sovereignty, that, that aligns with our, our very same principles. And so I think we just need to
27:24remember who we are. I yield the remainder of my time to Mr. Venman. Thank you. Thank you. So now that
27:31we're talking about history, a favorite topic of mine, let us also remember when, when this nation
27:37was born, we defeated the greatest power, land power, and sea power on the planet. But we did that also
27:44with the help of the French. And maybe we ought to remember that when we consider whether we want to
27:51support or revoke our support from the Russians. Let me recommend to my colleague also that on the
27:57other side of the aisle, that the values that you recognize in the Ukrainians seeking freedom,
28:02democracy, you know, this new democracy, only 34 years old or so. Why not let those be your guideposts
28:09on what the right action here is? It's consistent with our national security. We already talked about
28:15that, but let's also be guided by, by our values. Let's talk a little bit of facts. Ukraine is not
28:21being, is not being pounded in dust. Ukrainian cities are taking heavy fire undoubtedly, but there's
28:30no imminent threat of a collapse. Ukraine is now a major UAV power. We saw that in Operation Spiderweb.
28:35We see that in, um, the pace of Russian advance on the front line. We may be the preferred partner,
28:43but we're not the only partner. The Europeans will step in. NATO will step in. I guarantee the Polish
28:49have no interest in having Russia on their doorstep. Finally, how do we get to peace? We need negotiations.
28:56We get to negotiations only by putting pressure on Russia. That is the direction that we have to move
29:02in. That is the direction the president is moving in. And that's why I'm against this amendment. Thank you.
29:08You're back. Gentlemen, time's expired. Um, does any other members seek recognition? Mr. Chairman?
29:13Mr. Chairman? I'm sorry. I don't. Okay. Mr. Keating is recognized. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
29:18Uh, the number 30 to 27 is going to be something we'll remember tomorrow morning or whenever we get
29:25through with this because the votes will always be 30 to 27 with rare exceptions in this. So in one sense,
29:31I'm glad this amendment's placed in. Uh, I'm against it. Uh, the, uh, concept behind it is dead wrong.
29:38We're going to have an opportunity in this committee, and I think, hope I'm not wrong,
29:42where you're not going to see a 30 to 27 vote, uh, against this. You're going to see a bipartisan vote
29:49against this because there's bipartisan consensus in Congress that we're concerned about honoring nuclear
29:58proliferation agreements that date back to the Budapest agreement here. Uh, something that's
30:02important as we negotiate other agreements. We're at least sticking to our words so far,
30:08not as well as I'd like, but certainly not the way Russia has betrayed that. There's a bipartisan
30:14concern about China and the threat of China. And, uh, everyone in this committee knows our number one
30:19policy is deterrence. And the number one example of not being deterrent power is collapsing our coalition
30:29around our support of Ukraine. This is a bipartisan concern about funding too, and the money. And I
30:37think particularly longstanding members of this committee will know that, uh, in the absence of
30:43Ukraine winning and Putin's, uh, just overt, uh, attacks and threats to the Baltics. We're going to
30:49deploy more troops, uh, in Eastern Europe if Ukraine loses, and that'll cost a multiple, uh, amount more
30:58than the small amount we're investing here. And there's also a bipartisan concern on how we're going to pay it
31:05on the repo act, uh, and using the Russian frozen assets potentially to rebuild and to help Ukraine
31:13the way that we should make the person that's responsible. And in Europe, that's over 300 billion
31:20dollars that's there, much smaller here. So I look at this vote coming up, uh, later on on this amendment,
31:28and I hopefully will see a break from about every other vote that we're going to have.
31:33And that will be a great message to send to Putin. That'll be a great message to send to people in
31:42the country who don't really know or are confused by some of our support here by looking at the number
31:47one committee in Congress that's given the responsibility of making those decisions for
31:54the American people and seeing a bipartisan vote against this. So I look forward to that and I yield back.
32:00The gentleman yields back. Does any other member seek to speak on the, uh,
32:05gentlelady from Washington, Ms. Strickland? Thank you, Chairman. Um, I too am going to encourage us to vote
32:11against this amendment. And speaking out against an amendment is not a personal attack on the person
32:17who brought it forward. This is about our responsibility as the United States of America
32:23to protect freedom and democracy. And our adversaries right now are watching this filled with glee
32:31that this nation looks divided right now. That President Zelensky first came to visit the House
32:37chambers in a bipartisan manner and got multiple standing ovations across the board.
32:43And as time has gone on, that support seems to be waning from one side of the aisle. No one wants
32:50a war to go on forever. But Vladimir Putin cannot be successful. He must be brought to the negotiating
32:58table to do something that is fair, that allows Ukraine to remain a sovereign nation and a democracy.
33:04So if we want to put America first, we will support Ukraine. If we want to put America first, we're not
33:12going to take health care away from seven million people or food out of the mouths of hungry children
33:17to give tax breaks to billionaires and jack up the debt to four trillion dollars. I yield back.
33:22The gentleman yields back. Does any other member wish to speak on the Mace Amendment?
33:27There's no further debate. The question occurs on the amendment offered by Ms. Mace. So many who's in favor
33:34will say aye. Those opposed, no. No. Opinion Chair, the no's have it. All right.
33:45The amendment's not agreed to.