Political Quotes

“It is great to see the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal) come together with the ranking member. Congressman Doggett and I introduced legislation 3 weeks ago. This completes what we had. I am sorry that we were unable to move forward, but I am pleased that the White House now feels comfortable moving forward with this legislation. It is important that we are moving in concert with our allies, but I think we need that sense of urgency, based on what we heard again yesterday from President Zelenskyy. What we have done in Congress with the administration has damaged the Russian economy for decades, watching what has happened in terms of the collapse of the ruble, the cratering of their stock market, raising the cost of living for ordinary Russians, not just chasing the yachts of the oligarchs. We have a quarter of the WTO that accounts for about 58 percent of the global domestic product. Moving to suspend this MFN standing means the Russian economy will face higher tariff rates, export bans, investment restrictions, export licensing requirements, customs hurdles, restrictions on cross-border services, and unequal treatment for intellectual property and rules of origin. All of these further cripple the Russian economy. This is another tightening of that noose, sending a signal. I hope there is more that we can do economically in terms of weapons, maybe even find a way to get MiGs to the Ukrainians without starting World War III.…”