On the recordJuly 15, 2022
I would like to address the current situation in Ukraine. Obviously, everyday people in Ukraine and Russia are dying, and I am concerned that the current administration has no particular plan, or at least we are not told of any plan or goal, as to where we want to wind up. Ukraine has the second lowest birthrate of any country in a country of that size in the world. It is lower than all but South Korea. Russia also has a very low birthrate. Even before the war, a lot of Russians were leaving Russia, at least subjectively from what I have seen when I toured the southern border of the United States. The combination of immigration and low birthrate means that the primary goal of the leaders of both these countries should be to make sure we get the number of Russians and Ukrainians up, not going the opposite direction. In any event, I do not know. We have not met collectively since March to have a briefing for all the legislators as to what the opinions of the Biden administration are. So I am going to ask the press maybe to ask a few questions to find out whether they are working with anybody to try to reach some sort of end to this war or if they don't care if it goes on for another 6 months. ____________________
