VIDEO: Quigley Calls for Additional Aid to Ukraine
Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05), Co-Chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, spoke on the House Floor about the need to continue aiding Ukraine in their war against Russia:
I ask my colleagues to remember our history. Over eighty years ago, the greatest generation fought the Second World War to keep tyrants from taking over the free world. They fought for freedom and democracy.
Today, we must honor their sacrifice by continuing to fight for those same principles. Today’s fight in Ukraine is for those principles – for the right of Ukraine and any other democratic nations and their people to simply exist.
By aiding Ukraine, we are ensuring their continued existence. Without that aid, Putin would have virtually wiped Ukraine off the face of the earth, leaving it to battle a war of insurgency.
Our aid has always been critical to the survival of nations far away. During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt coined the phrase “arsenal of democracy” to describe the United States’ role in providing weapons to democracies fighting to defend themselves. Roosevelt argued that this assistance would enable our allies “to fight for their liberty and for our security.” That is still true today.
Our continued aid is about preserving the liberty of vulnerable nations. But it’s also about our national security. In FDR’s fourth inaugural, he said, “We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations far away.” Those who argue that this is not our fight, fail to remember this critical idea. They fail to remember that Ukraine’s fight is for the same reasons we formed NATO and the United Nations.
Ukraine’s fight is ours. For if Putin is not defeated, he will not stop at Ukraine. His greater aim is to reconstitute the former Soviet Union, imperiling freedom and democracy in the region and enveloping them in tyranny. Putin’s intention was to form a federation with Belarus and Ukraine, where he would have installed a puppet government, to overtake Moldova, the Baltics and beyond. It would mean even more of the same devastation we have seen for well over a year.
When I traveled to Ukraine in July 2022, I saw the flattened maternity hospitals and mass graves that Putin's forces left in their wake. If not for our assistance, Putin’s reign of terror would be happening on a much larger scale. Following the Second World War we vowed “never again.” Now, our word is being tested. We must make good on that promise. Our commitment to that promise and our resolve is on display for the rest of the world. We must show leaders in Tehran, Beijing and elsewhere that we will not cower in the face of tyranny. That is why we must fund Ukraine’s defense.
Now some would continue to present a false choice – that we must fund Ukraine or Israel – not both. They are wrong. We do not have to choose. In the words of NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, “We have the capability and the strength to address different challenges at the same time. We don’t have the luxury of choosing only one threat and one challenge.” The conflict in Israel and the conflict in Ukraine are tied together by Vladimir Putin. Just as Iran is supporting Hamas’ attack on Israel, Iran is also assisting Putin in his assault on Ukraine. We can help Israel defend itself from terrorism, while also helping Ukraine defend itself from an evil autocrat.
President John F. Kennedy said, “We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” Right now that price is the request that President Biden has made – enough to aid Ukraine for the next year of fighting. It is a small price to pay for our national security and global security. Failing to do so will show Putin and the rest of the world our current level of dysfunction and our inability to govern. Our inability to govern is a national security threat and an international security threat.
We are at a critical point in our history – not dissimilar to the years leading up to the Second World War. We and our allies built a liberal world order after that war, now we must protect it. As Churchill said, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” The choices we make now will influence the fate of the free world for generations to come. Let’s make the right ones.