WGN News at Five: Crisis in Crimea Continues

The following interview originally aired on WGN on April 30, 2014. A transcript and video of the interview are below. If you have difficulty viewing the video, click here.

Lourdes Duarte: The eyes of the world are on Ukraine as the crisis in Crimea continues. One Illinois Congressman wanted to get a first-hand look at the dispute with Russia so Mike Quigley went there, just returned from a trip to that country and he is joining us live from Capitol Hill, good evening to you sir.

Representative Mike Quigley: Good evening, thanks for having me on.

Duarte: Nice to have you. Well Chicago has a large Ukrainian community, you of course went there, you've now returned this week, is there a sense of optimism from you or just a sense that things are going to escalate and get way worse?

Rep. Quigley: Well despite all the odds, there is a sense of optimism. Despite the fact that they have Russian troops massing on the boarders, internal Russian aggression, an economy that needed to be bailed out. Prior to this revolution, wide-spread corruption, energy needs, it's still a country very optimistic. It sees itself on the brink of a real democratic republic.

Duarte: You know the U.S. has put in place some sanctions like for example freezing some visas, also some technology exports not going into Russia. Do you think that's enough, is there anything else that can be done?

Rep. Quigley: Well I think the non-lethal military aid will help, they certainly need it I mean they have planes with no fuel, tanks with no batteries, I think that's an important ingredient. I think the first round of sanctions helped, you've started to see an impact on the Russian economy, the ruble is at an all-time low, the stock market is down twenty percent, its borrowing status is near junk, capital is fleeing Russia, but I think the second round probably came up short. I'd rather see sanctions focused on the energy and banking sector, I think those would be more effective getting Putin's attention.

Duarte: Yeah and the talk today was of the stock market in Russia in Moscow rebounded today for the second straight day so we'll see. I want to switch gears for a second, we've got a lot to talk to you about. Obviously you've been following the fight for minimum wage, the Senate failed to advance that today, why was that? I know a lot of blame has been going to republicans but do you see that having any legs any time in the near future?

Rep. Quigley: Well I hope it's a temporary setback, I mean obviously a majority of the votes came from democrats, they came about six votes short of the number they needed to take this bill up. It's something that's long overdue, I anticipate they'll overcome this hurdle, it's the right thing to do.

Duarte: Alright. And also want to talk to you about something happening here locally. An Illinois House Committee today approved state funds to be used, about a hundred million dollars to be used for an Obama library. A lot of people, perhaps not happy about that, saying that that's not the best use of public funds, what's your take on it?

Rep. Quigley: Well I was surprised that they felt the need to do this. I think the Obama library belongs in Chicago but I understand that many of the Presidential libraries were successfully built without using any public funds. So I hope Illinois gets to that point and the library is built.

Duarte: Alright, thank you so much. Congressman Mike Quigley, we appreciate you. Welcome back home.