Tom Rice: “On February 8, President Biden said that if Russia invaded Ukraine, America would impose crippling sanctions. On…”

“On February 8, President Biden said that if Russia invaded Ukraine, America would impose crippling sanctions. On February 24, President Putin kept to his word and invaded Ukraine. President Biden has since then slow-walked the sanctions that he promised, those crippling sanctions that he promised. Today, 3 weeks after the invasion, as we have watched on the news as Ukrainians have bravely fought, outmanned and outgunned, and yet they hold on tenaciously to their property at horrific costs. Their cities are being destroyed. Innocent civilians are being shot. Women and children are being attacked on the streets. And yet, the United States has been slow to move. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of this long-overdue bill to suspend permanent normal trade relations with the Russian Federation and Belarus. I am a cosponsor of this legislation and would like to thank Chairman Neal and Ranking Member Brady for their hard work on this issue. Last week, the House took the much-needed step of blocking oil and gas imports from Russia. When we debated that bill last week, I said we should have gone much further and should not have taken that watered- down approach. The United States must stop projecting weakness to Putin and his allies. President Biden must live up to his word. Today, we are finally taking a decisive step to punish Russia for their criminal aggression in Ukraine by ending their special treatment as a most-favored nation.…”