Dan Kildee: “I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank my friends, Mr. Suozzi and Mr. King, for offering this resolution, and…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank my friends, Mr. Suozzi and Mr. King, for offering this resolution, and particularly Mr. Suozzi for his leadership on this issue. Like many Members who have spoken, I am proud of my own Irish heritage. It is a heritage that continues to this day. My sister lives in Ireland with her husband, Daithi, and their children, Siofra, Paddy, Ciaran, and Fiach. Those four children are part of the first generation alive that have been able to live with the guarantee of some sort of peace on that island. It is important that we recognize that, as much as many of us have this familial connection to the people of Ireland, this question is so much bigger than that. This is really a question as to whether or not we are going to support a negotiated peace, which is an achievement not just of the people of the U.K. and the island of Ireland but as an achievement of the American people as well because we are a guarantor of that agreement. It even goes beyond that, however. What message does it send to the people of the world, especially in those places that continue to have longstanding conflicts, if in the name of a hasty decision to implement Brexit, we were to set aside this achievement that says to the people of the world, not just the people of that island, not just to the people of the U.K., not just to the people of the U.S., but to the people of the world that peace can be achieved through face-to-face negotiation?…”