On the recordFebruary 15, 2024
We leave today a day early. We essentially have 4-day weeks. That is, 25 percent of the work that we were planning to do, we are not going to do. We leave, I think, because we either can't do our work or we won't be allowed to do our work. Madam Speaker, I rise again, as I have so many times when we were leaving without doing the critical business of America and the world. I rise, again, for our allies in Ukraine and Israel. I rise for the defense of democracy and freedom of people who are fighting for their very survival as a democracy. The other week, I read a story, Madam Speaker, about the desperate situation on the front lines outside Kharkiv in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Air Defense soldier positioned outside the city spotted a salvo of Russian missiles rising over the horizon. He stood there helplessly. His unit lacked the equipment and ammunition necessary to shoot missiles down. Within minutes, the missile struck a residential complex, killing numerous civilians. Yet, we stand here ready to walk out of this Chamber, our work undone. The soldier later told the journalist: ``I understood they would fly and hit people and that I couldn't do anything to prevent it from happening.'' He was right. There was nothing he could have done because he did not have the weapons that were necessary. The Congress, of course, cannot say the same. We can do something. We must do something. This Congress stands silent in this House.…





