Donald S. Beyer
Representative for Virginia · Democratic · United States
“Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose this well-intentioned but terribly flawed bill. All of us on our side strongly support Ukraine, but this would do more harm than good for America and Ukraine. It has three main points: sanctions, tariffs, and symbolism.”
House of Representatives16 September 2026Source ↗
“They will be able to say they stood with Ukraine in the immediate aftermath, but when Donald Trump hits our allies with new tariffs and waives sanctions on Russia, the propaganda victory for Putin will be lasting and the damage will be embedded in U.S. law.”
House of Representatives16 September 2026Source ↗
“The bill has a loophole that would allow him to define basically any country as a facilitator of evading Russian sanctions. He could then hit them with tariffs of up to 100 percent with no guardrails or oversight and no expiration.”
House of Representatives16 September 2026Source ↗
“Besides the justifiable outrage felt by these men and women due to how they were treated by this administration, by Elon Musk, and his band of DOGE acolytes, what has really struck me is the grief that they feel being unable to continue to serve our country and help some of the world's most vulnerable people. They understand that U.S.”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Sherman for speaking. Mr. Speaker, last year, President Trump teamed up with his trillionaire donor Elon Musk to dismantle USAID and pause or permanently cancel a large portion of our international assistance programs.”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
“Available government data shows large reductions of spending from 2024 to 2025, such as a 48 percent cut to global health programs, 39 percent cut to the Food For Peace program, a 65 percent cut in development assistance, and a 21 percent cut to international disaster assistance.”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
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“They will be able to say they stood with Ukraine in the immediate aftermath, but when Donald Trump hits our allies with new tariffs and waives sanctions on Russia, the propaganda victory for Putin will be lasting and the damage will be embedded in U.S. law. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian cause will be tied to Trump's widely hated tariffs, deeply unpopular in America already. Further stressing the American pocketbook is not good for Ukraine's long term. We can do better. The House has passed a better bill. With negotiation and compromise, we can pass a stronger bill that truly supports Ukraine and tightens the economic screws on Russia without harming Americans. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this misguided bill so we can pass a better one.”
House of Representatives16 September 2026Source ↗
“The bill has a loophole that would allow him to define basically any country as a facilitator of evading Russian sanctions. He could then hit them with tariffs of up to 100 percent with no guardrails or oversight and no expiration. It is a much stronger tariff power than those he has already abused, and it will be much harder to challenge in court. Giving him this power, when he has shown us over and over again what he will do with it, would be an incredible mistake. Finally, we are told this bill would be a symbolic win for Ukraine and a show of American support. If this bill passes, I predict Ukraine supporters will regret it.”
House of Representatives16 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose this well-intentioned but terribly flawed bill. All of us on our side strongly support Ukraine, but this would do more harm than good for America and Ukraine. It has three main points: sanctions, tariffs, and symbolism. The new sanctions on Russia in this bill would be strong and sweeping if they were enforced, but the bill gives Trump the power to simply ignore them. That is what he is very likely to do. His criticism of Ukraine and his friendliness to Russia have both been rising recently. He is even calling for more Russian energy exports, the very thing this bill is purported to block. The bill's tariffs are a huge problem. President Trump has abused every Presidential tariff authority--every single one--that Congress has given, often to target our allies.”
House of Representatives16 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
“We can and we should work to reduce the risk of this happening again, and I look forward to rebuilding USAID in the years to come. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of our time, such as it is.”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
“Besides the justifiable outrage felt by these men and women due to how they were treated by this administration, by Elon Musk, and his band of DOGE acolytes, what has really struck me is the grief that they feel being unable to continue to serve our country and help some of the world's most vulnerable people. They understand that U.S. international assistance is not charity. It is a critical component of our national security strategy, alongside diplomacy and defense. They reduced the risk of lethal diseases, like Ebola and the avian flu, from spreading to our shores. They promoted economic growth and democracy in developing nations, enhanced counterterrorism initiatives, and alleviated international crises and disasters. But it is up to us to build and improve what remains of our aid infrastructure.”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
“These are numbers, but each statistic represents suffering and misery that our government chose to inflict on some of the most vulnerable people in the world. I love and greatly appreciate The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof. He has gone to Africa and written in heartbreaking detail about the individual human costs of aid cuts. He writes about deaths of children in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Uganda dying due to the lack of ordinarily available food assistance, medicine, mosquito nets, and other U.S.-provided aid. I am a Representative that serves Northern Virginia, so I have heard from hundreds of former USAID employees and their private sector partners who worked on these cut programs.”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
“Available government data shows large reductions of spending from 2024 to 2025, such as a 48 percent cut to global health programs, 39 percent cut to the Food For Peace program, a 65 percent cut in development assistance, and a 21 percent cut to international disaster assistance. Several large-scale independent studies and reporting from numerous news outlets have shown the human toll on these reductions. I thank my colleagues who pointed out names and photographs. Let me give some examples. The Gates Foundation estimates that child deaths will rise for the first time in the 21st century in 2025, and projects that if the aid cuts continue at a similar scale, we should expect an additional 12 million child deaths by 2045--12 million kids.”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
“Our national debt passed $40 trillion this week, the latest in a strong string of facts to show how little Trump and company actually care about fiscal responsibility. The decision and the chaotic and callous way it was implemented has led to needless death, suffering, and damage to our national security and international reputation. But the worst impacts have been the devastation this has inflicted on poor and sick people around the world. In defense of the aid cuts, Elon Musk claimed zero people in Africa died. Secretary Rubio likewise claimed no one has died, claiming that lifesaving aid programs would be maintained or replaced. These statements are lies, and they are insults to our intelligence.”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Sherman for speaking. Mr. Speaker, last year, President Trump teamed up with his trillionaire donor Elon Musk to dismantle USAID and pause or permanently cancel a large portion of our international assistance programs. This was done in the name of furthering Trump's America First policy, but it is mostly combating mostly fictional and exaggerated claims of waste. The authors of this policy claimed that their goal was to achieve deficit reduction, to further Trump's America First policy on largely imaginary claims of waste. Far from reducing waste, the headlong rush to shutter USAID has forced the government to set aside billions of dollars for lawsuits, pay former employees to stay at home, and settle outstanding agreements with contractors.”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman very much for her eloquent words. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman), a longtime leader of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a good friend, and a national leader.”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to open this Special Order to discuss the destructive, counterproductive, and tragic choice by the Trump administration to disband the U.S. Agency for International Development and to dramatically cut U.S. international assistance. I thank the many Members who will be joining me this evening to raise this important topic and for their leadership in fighting back against this senseless decision. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Lois Frankel).”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record.”
House of Representatives2 September 2026Source ↗
“Speaker, I hope all my colleagues will join me in opposing this bill and instead work on a solution that would be a win-win for everybody.”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“Speaker, I don't minimize that the lobster industry is facing uncertainty and economic hardship, but that is a roller coaster of tariff implementations and rollbacks, rising inflation increasing the cost of fuel and bait, and warming waters that reduce larval lobster survival and encourage survivors to migrate northwards to Canadian waters. Mr. Speaker, if my colleagues across the aisle truly care about protecting lobstermen and fishermen, they would join me in opposing Trump's tariffs, his antagonism of our Canadian neighbors, his war of choice in Iran, his degradation of our environment, and his denial of climate change. We could do better by our lobstermen by working with them to ensure they have the support they need without sacrificing an entire species. Mr.”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“That is a 13-year waiver from the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act requirements. I am wondering why 6 years has not already been enough. Delaying these protections doesn't ultimately serve the fishing industry's best interests. It will only delay changes that the industry ultimately needs to make any way, leaving them less time to adapt. If they haven't done it in the last 6 years, why do we think they will do it in the next 13? Now is the time we should be working with them and in partnership with the industry to effectively support them. Mr.”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this bill. We must protect the North Atlantic right whale, which, as you heard, is already at risk of extinction. This bill threatens to put them right over the edge. With only 70 reproductively active females left, the North Atlantic right whale can't afford to wait another 7 years for protection. They realistically could be extinct right now. We can and must act now. Entanglement in fishing gear is a leading cause, maybe the leading cause, of North Atlantic right whale deaths. In 2023, a provision delayed critical protections intended to reduce these deadly entanglements. {time} 1550 As a result, the earliest measures to protect these North American right whales could be implemented in 2029. That is 3 years from now. This bill would further delay the implementation until 2035.”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“I first met Gerry and Smitty when they came in as a young married couple 42 years ago when we volunteered on the same Governor's campaign. Over the years, everything that could be done by any human being to make life better for the citizens of Northern Virginia, Gerry did--as a civic association leader, a supervisor, a chairman, a Congressman, the president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and, most of all, as the Democratic chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform--everything that he did. Let me just say, Mr. Speaker, I will miss him greatly. This is a due and appropriate honor.”
House of Representatives13 July 2026Source ↗
“He loved the Postal Service. He fought for it year after year. He served on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for 15 years and, again, was an immensely important leader on that committee. He fiercely believed in the Federal Government's commitment to the American public for affordable and reliable mail delivery for every single household in our country, but he was also a steadfast champion for the unsung heroes, the postal workers, who made that possible. He led the defense against the DOGE attacks on the Postal Service and efforts by this administration to privatize the Postal Service. As Gerry Connolly often reminded us, public service is leaving communities better than we found them, and Northern Virginia is a better place for Gerry's time in public service.”
House of Representatives13 July 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Walkinshaw for the time. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6332. As Mr. Walkinshaw has said, this legislation would name the post office at 10660 Page Avenue in Fairfax as the Gerald E. Connolly Post Office in honor of my dear friend and former colleague, the late Congressman Gerry Connolly. Mr. Speaker, I used to tease Gerry all the time about the 41-mile Gerry Connolly Cross County Trail in Fairfax County that was a hiking, biking, and bridle trail. It went the whole arc, from one side of Fairfax County to another, but it is difficult to imagine a more fitting tribute to Gerry's lifetime of public service than this post office because of what he has done. He wrote, sponsored, and passed the most important postal reform in this century, literally this millennium.”
House of Representatives13 July 2026Source ↗
“Consumer confidence is plummeting, reaching its lowest level in 12 years, and economists are increasingly convinced that we are heading for a recession. This budget will balloon our deficit, leading to higher interest rates. It will slash critical investments and will decimate essential programs that support the people who we represent, all of this to help billionaires and corporations get tax cuts that they do not need and that our country cannot afford.”
House of Representatives9 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this budget resolution, which is a recipe for economic disaster for our country. Americans have been clear. They want lower prices and an economy that works for them. Yet, at every turn, this administration and my Republican colleagues are doubling down on policies that raise prices, undermine our economy, and make our wealth inequality even worse. Mr. Speaker, I spent much of today with U.S. Trade Ambassador Greer, and it is clear that the administration's myth that tariffs will reshape the economy by bullying our closest allies is nothing more than a fantasy. The Trump tariffs represent the largest tax hike in American history. They have caused chaos in the markets and stripped millions from Americans' retirement plans.”
House of Representatives9 April 2025Source ↗
“I think I saw more of Karen these last 5 years than I saw of my own family. She was everywhere, and she knew everybody, one of the most important skills of the most important diplomat from our most important ally. Ambassador Pierce's New Year's Eve celebrations will live long in Washington memory. Please join me in thanking Ambassador Pierce and wishing her the best on her next mission to the West Balkans. Her legacy of diplomacy will continue to inspire future generations. Zoning In on Service: Honoring Gerry Hyland's Legacy”
House of Representatives24 February 2025Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Ambassador Dame Karen Pierce, who served nearly 5 years as the British Ambassador to the United States and was recently appointed as the United Kingdom's Special Envoy to the Western Balkans. During Ambassador Pierce's time in the United States, she happily embraced her role as the guardian of the special relationship between our two countries.”
House of Representatives24 February 2025Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I rise once again to honor the lifetime contributions of Marie Ridder to Virginia and the Nation. Marie, a distinguished journalist and one of the most passionate conservationists I have known, will celebrate her 100th birthday next Monday, January 27. Marie Ridder began her career as a journalist covering the reconstruction of post-World War II Europe, writing for the Philadelphia Bulletin.”
House of Representatives21 January 2025Source ↗