State lawmakers respond to Zelenskyy’s address to congress
Wis. (WBAY) - Wisconsin state lawmakers responded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s plea to congress Wednesday.
Action 2 News received statements from Sen. Ron Johnson, Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Rep. Mike Gallagher.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis:
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis:
Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis:
Gallagher also recorded a video statement:
“It was very powerful. And he called he not only showed us in brutal fashion, just the the death and destruction on the ground in Ukraine as a result of of Russia’s brutality and its unprovoked aggression. At one point, he played a video that that showed just the devastation, the way in which children are suffering in Ukraine. He not only did that in a way that was very powerful, he called on the United States to lead, to act as a leader for peace. But, of course, what we’ve discovered in this crisis is that in order to have peace, you must be strong. Peace through strength is still the coin of the realm when it comes to geopolitics. And so what I took away from President Zelensky’s words was there’s much more we can and need to be doing in order to force a peaceful resolution of this crisis and force the Russians to back down. In my mind, that means applying maximum pressure to the Russian economy, not just with sanctions, but the missing pieces to unleash the full power of American energy production. We can also expand air defense assistance to Ukraine. So even though we’re not going to do a no fly zone, they have greater abilities to protect themselves from Russian jets. We can also continue to provide munitions and lethal assistance, as well as provide new munitions such as switchblade drones, which would be very... it would have a huge impact on the battlefield. I think the one area that we didn’t talk about this morning that needs to be called out is we need to send a clear message to the Chinese Communist Party that we will punish them if they intervene in the conflict in order to help Russia. They have effectively, behind the scenes, been in full support of Russia’s invasion. There’s a growing cooperation between Russia and China. China needs to know that we will make public any evidence of their military assistance to Russia. Russia has asked them for support. We should also immediately ban the export of semiconductor equipment and design software to key Chinese controlled firms, while making it clear that we’re prepared to expand that if they continue to support Russia or their assistance to Russia increases. This is yet another reminder that China and Russia have launched a new Cold War against America and our allies. They’ve been doing it for a long time. And this latest episode has been a massive wake up call for the West. It’s time for us to learn the right lessons and start doing what’s necessary in order to reestablish peace through strength.”
Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis) has not yet released a statement.
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