Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill. Let me, first of all, thank our chairman, Ed Royce, for helping advance this bill. I introduced this bill in April along with the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kinzinger). I am proud to say we now have 36 additional cosponsors, both Democrats and Republicans. Mr. Speaker, we shouldn't kid ourselves about the intentions of Russia's President, Vladimir Putin. Inside his own borders, he has stripped away the rights of Russia's citizens. He has silenced a free and open press. He has stolen countless billions and spread the wealth around to his cronies. And in the wake of a sham election that boosted his party's majority, it is being reported that he wants to breathe new life into the KGB. His record abroad is more of the same. He has trampled his neighbors' sovereignty, worked to undermine NATO and Western unity, and posed a real threat to America's work and the work of our friends over the past seven decades to build a Europe that is whole, free, and at peace. Perhaps most egregious is Russia's ongoing illegal occupation of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine. Russia recently renewed its attack on Ukraine's sovereignty by holding parliamentary elections for the duma in Crimea. It is just outrageous, as the chairman mentioned. The United States will never recognize these claims, just as we never recognized Soviet control of the Baltic States during the 50-year occupation there.…”