Date: 2014-07-23
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. on Monday. I joined other Houstonians to express our sympathy by greeting citizens from the Netherlands and Malaysia after the enormous tragedy that occurred just 4 days ago. or more than 4 days ago. the shootingdown of the Malaysian flight over Ukraine territory. manned by an illegitimate government that thought it was appropriate to shoot missiles where no knowledge. allegedly. was gained or understood as to what it was. and hundreds of souls lost their lives. I hope that today. as the remains will be reaching the soil of the Netherlands. we will all take a moment to reflect on that enormous tragedy. As a senior member of the Homeland Security Committee. I am. obviously. extraordinarily disturbed because it pierced the sanctity of the international airways. and it says that there is no respect. dignity. or protocol as relates to the commercial flights and international airway. That. first of all. for all countries. must be abhorrent and outrageous. And then. we must take knowledge of the atrocious behavior of Russia. And it should not be silenced. their behavior is outrageous. It is inappropriate because Mr. Putin is a head of State. Bodies of another sovereign nation lay in a field. many sovereign nations. Mr. Putin did absolutely nothing to avoid the desecration and the insult and the indignities given to those lost souls. I am reminded of crashes over the years when countries or airlines were able to take the family members. within days. to the site for prayer or acknowledgment. giving them added comfort. So I think it is important to understand. and I refer my colleagues to an article. yes. in The Wall Street Journal. on why Putin is taking major risks in Ukraine. He is still living in the world of the Soviet Union. But it is imperative to know that we have something that we can offer. besides a request of peace. reconciliation. and international investigation unfettered. We have something that we can acknowledge. Even the Transportation Secretary indicated that energy resources. natural gas. oil and gas. natural gas. LNG. are resources that we can utilize to substitute for the despotic hold that he has over Europe. The Secretary of Transportation indicated it is a creator of jobs. But we need to start having Europe turn to the United States to ensure the opportunity for freedom and ceasing this atrocious hold on Europe. Let me state. just for a moment. to acknowledge a tragedy and the terrorism of Boko Haram. I will go to the Nigerian Embassy today. Madam Speaker. to acknowledge that the girls in captivity have been held for almost 100 days. I will look to introduce legislation that will use some of the seized Nigerian assets that have been seized through criminal activity to establish a real victims funded. even though I congratulate President Jonathan for creating one. but there has been no money given to these victims. And I will say that we need to watch this place because Boko Haram has now seized a whole town in the Northern State. the very State we were in when we went to Nigeria and spoke to the Governor. Now. a whole city. like New York or Chicago or Houston. has been seized. We have elements that we can do something about: Russia and its misbehavior. mistreatment of lost souls. and the terrorists and terrorist activities of Boko Haram. I implore my colleagues to work together to find a solution so that souls may be buried in dignity and never have this happen to them again and. as well. so that Boko Haram. is in essence. brought to justice.