News from Adrian Smith, Congressman.

 

Congressman Smith's E-news: February 26, 2022

This week, I led a House delegation on a United Kingdom visit. During the visit, I advocated expanding trade relationships for agriculture and exploring further shared economic growth opportunities between the United Kingdom and the United States.

Ukraine This week Russia escalated their ongoing attacks on Ukraine with an invasion. I support Ukraine as they defend their sovereignty against Vladimir Putin’s evil and reprehensible invasion, and I stand with Ukrainians in solidarity. Since 2014 I have called for the United States to work with our allies to support Ukraine as they defend themselves against Vladimir Putin’s aggressive actions. Today it is vital the United States takes strong, immediate action to punish Putin and his kleptocracy through the strongest possible sanctions, provide Ukraine and other eastern European democracies the resources necessary to defend themselves, and ensure economies across Europe are not punished by Putin’s stranglehold on much of the continent’s energy and natural resources. This must be done in a bipartisan way. I joined my colleagues in the House to cosponsor the Never Yielding Europe’s Territory Act. This legislation would impose strict sanctions on Russia, provide the support necessary for Ukraine so they can defend themselves, hold Russia accountable, and give Congress stronger oversight over the Biden Administration’s retaliatory actions. It was not difficult to predict this invasion as Putin has utilized this playbook before. Seven years ago this month, Russia began its invasion of Crimea, forced an illegal referendum, annexed the peninsula, and violated international law—including a treaty signed by the U.S., Britain, Russia, and Ukraine. We know we cannot trust Putin, and we know he will stop at nothing on his quest to make Russia the world’s superpower. Right now, the focus is Ukraine, but which nations will Russia target next? We cannot allow this sort of behavior to go unchecked in the international community, not only because of what it means for Ukraine, but also because of the message it sends other aggressors around the world, like China and North Korea. Again, to hold Russia and Vladimir Putin accountable, we must impose real and crippling sanctions. While I was pleased to see the Biden administration answer House Republicans’ demands to lift sanction waivers on Nord Stream 2, we should never take any action off the table when dealing with leaders like Vladimir Putin. Unfortunately, President Biden’s failure to be tough on Russia when and where it mattered has only emboldened Putin. We now have no choice but to assert ourselves on the world stage. In addition to imposing sanctions to cripple Russia’s economy, we should halt their weaponization of natural gas once and for all by fully harnessing America’s energy capabilities to lower costs for American consumers and become Europe’s supplier of choice. Senate Democrats’ calls to limit U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas are misguided and will do more harm than good, and the Biden administration’s gutting of domestic energy production is self-inflicted harm to our economy and workforce. It is truly unfortunate we find ourselves in this position, but we cannot back down. We, along with our allies, must stand strong in the face of Vladimir Putin’s aggression. The steps we take now will determine when and how this ends, and millions of Ukrainians are counting on us to stand in solidarity with them. Russia, China, and North Korea are counting on us not to. Sincerely,

Adrian Smith Member of Congress