Jeanne Shaheen: “I am here on the floor today with the incoming chair and current ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee to…”

“I am here on the floor today with the incoming chair and current ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee to talk about the deteriorating political situation in the country of Georgia and to strongly urge the United States Government to take immediate action in response. Senator Risch and I have had a long history of working together on Georgia. We were there in 2012 when Georgian Dream took over in Georgia. We were part of the election observation team. We agreed those were free and fair elections. Senator Risch was very eloquent in talking to President Saakashvili at the time--or Prime Minister--about the need to hand over power because it was a free and fair election, and we needed to do that. Well, in October, Georgia held parliamentary elections, and the vote took place against a backdrop of threats--in some cases, even violence. And there is evidence that the ruling party, Georgian Dream, specifically targeted activists, opposition figures, and ordinary voters. Consequently, those elections, unlike the elections in 2012 that we observed, have not been deemed free and fair. And the majority of the Georgian people, understandably so, do not support the election results. In the aftermath, the Georgian Dream government decided to yank Georgia off of its Euro-Atlantic path. It announced the country would cease negotiating with the European Union over its succession to the bloc.…”