Bill Pascrell: “I thank both Mr. Eliot Engel of New York and Mr. Chris Smith of New Jersey for leading us through what are important…”

“I thank both Mr. Eliot Engel of New York and Mr. Chris Smith of New Jersey for leading us through what are important things for us to contemplate, because what is applicable to Ukraine is applicable to a lot of places in this world. So I am a proud cosponsor and a strong supporter of H. Res. 447. It expresses our solidarity with the Ukrainian people and affirms their right to choose their own future. In this room, not that many years ago, we brought in the Prime Minister. Many of us had these flags, the colors of the Ukraine country. Mass protests have broken out in Ukraine following President Yanukovych's decision in November to back away from negotiations for closer integration with Europe. So Russia has their fingers in all of this. Beware. There was an agreement which had been supported by millions of Ukrainians in Ukraine and around the world. We have known about the violence. We have known about the detainment because folks just expressed their legitimate dissatisfaction with Yanukovych's government. However, the current crisis in Ukraine had deeper roots. Almost a decade ago, the Orange Revolution led to the annulment of a fraudulent election which would have brought Viktor Yanukovych to power. In the wake of protests and civil disobedience on a massive scale, the Ukrainian people, instead, chose President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. She is in jail. She is in jail right now, as we speak, still.…”