Pat Ryan: “I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I don't get up very often and speak much on the…”

“I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I don't get up very often and speak much on the floor, to be honest. What I heard in the few minutes here from my colleagues is, as the gentleman from Massachusetts said, the greatest hits, the recurring talking points over and over and over that are completely disconnected from where constituents in my district, in the Hudson Valley of New York, are on a whole host of issues. These are people who want us to actually fix problems. Specifically, they are people who want us to stand up for freedom and democracy in the face of rising authoritarian access around the world. Instead of doing any of that, we are debating these same bills over and over and over. We should be voting right now to stand strong with our democratic, small d, allies around the world from Europe to the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific. I am not going to read this letter, but as I was walking here, I received a letter from one of my constituents, an 18-year-old young man--I am not going to say his name and embarrass him without his permission--from Warwick, New York, who I had the incredible honor to nominate to the United States Military Academy at West Point, my alma mater. All of us have been giving these nominations to great American young men and women who, even in the time of incredible risk and danger around the world, are willing to stand up.…”