Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight for two purposes. The first is to warmly recognize my noble brother, Steve. I am so proud of you. The second reason I rise is as co-chair of the Ukrainian Caucus to commemorate one of the greatest engineering and political tragedies in modern history. Thirty years ago today, on April 26, 1986, at 1:23 a.m., operators in the control room of reactor number 4 mishandled a routine safety test at Chernobyl's Vladimir Illyich Lenin Nuclear Power Station in the former Soviet Union, now present-day Ukraine. The mishandled test led to a catastrophic explosion that burned for 10 days, and the radioactive fallout spread over tens of thousands of square miles forcing more than one-quarter of a million people permanently from their homes. Its plumes reached northern Europe as well. Chernobyl's legacy remains a heavy burden for the people of Ukraine. To its everlasting shame, the Soviet Union tried to cover up the severity of the disaster engulfing the region with repercussions that could have been avoided. The event drove one-third of a million people from their homes and triggered an epidemic level of thyroid cancer. Over the years, the economic losses have amounted to hundreds of billions of dollars. Mr. Speaker, the impact of Chernobyl lingers socially, economically, and culturally. We, as a free world, should help build a bright future for these communities and their people who persevered in the face of such profound catastrophe. ____________________”