Ted Poe: “Since our founding, Americans have always had to fight for the liberty and freedom that we have. Throughout our history…”

“Since our founding, Americans have always had to fight for the liberty and freedom that we have. Throughout our history, we have had allies from other parts of the world on our side ready to help us, and we have been ready to help them stand together for freedom over tyranny. Today, I want to commemorate one of our most important allies: the people of Serbia. For more than 130 years, we have had a close relationship with the Serbian people. I have on my staff here in Washington a Serbian American, Blair Bjellos, who is my victim's advocate. When I was in Texas as a judge, my chief of staff, Elaine Dudich Stolte, who now runs the best children's assessment center in the world, worked for me. Both are of Serbian descent. Our friendship with the Serbians is based on our shared belief in democracy and standing up for liberty. During both World War I and World War II, our two countries fought on the same battlefield and our people shared and shed blood together. Because of that brotherhood, we have a special relationship. During World War I, Austria-Hungary tried to pick a fight with Serbia, through the July Ultimatum. Of course, the Ultimatum wasn't a deal at all, and it was purposely unacceptable and meant to provoke a war with the two nations. Despite being 10 times smaller than Austria- Hungary, Serbia, an independent, freedom-loving nation, refused to back down to the aggressor.…”