Hoyer: Helping the People of Ukraine Defend their Nation Against Putin's Tyranny is a Central Battle in Fight Between Democracy and Despotism

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) delivered remarks in support of Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)'s amendment to provide $400 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative to support Ukraine's military and national security forces in its war against Russia during the House Appropriations Full Committee Markup of the FY 2027 Defense bill. Below are a video and transcript of his remarks:

Click here to watch a video of his remarks.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the gentlelady from Ohio, both for offering this amendment and for her extraordinary leadership and faithfulness in this cause. Helping the people of Ukraine defend their nation against Putin's tyranny is a central battle in a global fight between democracy and despotism. That's the issue here. It is not simply $400 million; it is whether or not America is going to continue to stay strong in the fight against despotism. America has a critical role to play in that fight, and this is something the House recognized recently on a bipartisan basis with passage of the Ukraine Support Act.

"This amendment does not add any funding to this bill. It simply carves out $400 million from funds already appropriated herein and sets it aside specifically for [the] Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. This is money well spent. This is money that will send a message. This is money that will reaffirm America's continuing willingness to defend democracy. The Ukrainian military is making steady progress because of its growing technological edge, particularly in drone warfare. You already [know] about that. Our military is watching and learning so we can adopt those new technologies and tactics to strengthen our own capabilities. Spending $400 million to help Ukraine defeat Russia's invasion is a much better bargain than spending $80 billion on a war in Iran. I hope the Senate will move swiftly on the Ukraine Support Act, and then we can come together to send the president's legislation that includes funding for this program as well.

"Ladies and gentlemen, two thirds of this committee [have] voted 12 times to support Ukrainian funding. 16 of the majority's Members have supported it 100% of the time. Of those 12 votes, we only had one time when the majority of Republicans did not vote to support Ukraine - and that was [if] three votes changed on the Republican side, it would have been a majority of the Republicans. It was an extraordinary bipartisan statement - we were unanimous on our side - extraordinary statement of support for democracy, for freedom against the breaking of international law. And because we are an exceptional nation, we are the symbolic nation. We are the nation who says, 'If we support you, you're going to do well.' And that is why our silence, essentially, for the last 24 months - actually [since] April of 2024 - is so deafening and so demoralizing for our Ukrainian friends and sends such a bad message to Putin of inaction.

"$400 million in a $1 trillion - $72 billion bill. But it will make a difference psychologically as well as militarily, because that $400 million will provide weapons that the Ukrainians badly need to meet the Russian threats of their bombing of Kyiv on a regular basis. 100% of the time, 16 of you have voted for Ukraine. I hope you do so one more time, because as the gentleman from Texas said, what America says matters. What America votes for matters. What this House does matters. As a result, I would hope that we could get a bipartisan vote on this piece of legislation. $400 million. During the course - I have 23 seconds - during the course of the amendment that we had on the Floor of the Ukraine Support Act, Member after Member rose and said, 'You only have $300 million. We authorized $400 million. You're cutting it $100 million.' How ironic it would be for that debate to be that we cut $100 million when we can't add the $400 million, which your side spoke about as us cutting, and therefore a reason not to support the Ukraine Support Act. This $400 million is exactly what has been authorized by the Defense Authorization Committee. We should take their advice, move on this, [and] send a message that America continues to be the defender of freedom and the opponent of despotism."