The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“UPHOLD THE STIMSON DOCTRINE” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H6048-H6049 on July 11, 2018.
The State Department is responsibly for international relations with a budget of more than $50 billion. Tenure at the State Dept. is increasingly tenuous and it's seen as an extension of the President's will, ambitions and flaws.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
UPHOLD THE STIMSON DOCTRINE
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ferguson). The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly) for 5 minutes.
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I am concerned that the President of the United States is engaged in a massive campaign of deception that threatens to upend U.S. policy towards Crimea, shake confidence in U.S. global leadership, and override the stated will of the United States Congress.
This dangerous precedent set in Crimea cannot be overstated. Putin's forcible and illegal annexation of Crimea, the first forcible seizure of territory in Europe since World War II, undermines Ukrainian sovereignty and threatens the stability of European borders.
Acquiescence on the part of the United States threatens the security of sovereign nations. Who is next? Moldova? Georgia? The Baltic States?
It is the longstanding policy of the United States not to recognize territorial changes effected by force, as dictated by the Stimson Doctrine established in 1932 by then Republican Secretary of State Henry Stimson.
We upheld that doctrine with the issuance of the Welles Declaration in 1940, which stated emphatically that the United States would not recognize the illegal annexation of the Baltic States by then the Soviet Union. That policy remained in effect for 50 long years.
For more than 50 years, we stood by the Baltic Republics of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, sometimes in the face of ridicule. Today, they are independent sovereign states and good members of NATO. The collective wisdom of the previous and current administrations, Congress, our European allies, and the American public is that similar principles must be adopted with respect to Crimea.
Crimea was Putin's original violation in the Ukraine, and we have limited credibility objecting to Russia's subsequent invasion of the Luhansk and Donetsk if we do not stand firm with respect to Crimea.
The Obama administration established a nonrecognition policy toward Russian sovereignty over Crimea and levied sanctions against individuals and entities enabling Russia's occupation. Our allies in Europe stood with us shoulder to shoulder in emphasizing and enforcing those sanctions.
Congress codified President Obama's Crimea sanctions and has repeatedly used the power of the purse to prohibit the use of government funds for any action that would recognize the de jure or de facto illegal annexation of Crimea.
And in the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, Congress reiterated its support for the Stimson Doctrine and its application to the illegal invasions by Russia and occupations of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, Crimea, and eastern Ukraine, and the Transnistria region of Moldova. Even the State Department for the current administration has reiterated our nonrecognition policy and enforced Crimea sanctions.
But through all of this, one man stands alone atop his bully pulpit with opaque intentions and armed with an arsenal of half-truths and downright lies. That person is the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
I do not particularly care that Donald Trump personally admires Vladimir Putin. Everyone needs a role model. However, President Trump's willful ignorance of the crisis in the Ukraine has had him repeat propaganda and support policies that are so foreign that they would make Mr. Putin very happy.
It was candidate Trump who said both ``Crimea has been taken'' and Putin is ``not going into Ukraine.'' I will not attempt to untangle the contradictions therein. I trust President Trump has had time to study and understand why his comments betrayed a shockingly tenuous grasp of U.S. foreign policy and our increasingly dangerous geopolitical climate.
As Commander in Chief, the President has since had time to learn more about the situation in the Crimea and eastern Ukraine. Unfortunately, he has learned all the wrong lessons and has adopted a confrontational approach to current U.S. policy regarding Crimea.
In justifying his position, the President has repeated several myths, some of which were no doubt originated by the Kremlin's own propaganda machine.
Myth number one: The people of Crimea have said they preferred Russia--only in a referendum in an occupied Crimea with Russian troops all over the state. No referendum has validity at the end of a barrel of a gun.
Myth number two: The demographics of Crimea demand they be part of Russia because most of them speak Russian. I am sure Russian speaking populations in the Baltic Republics revolt at that kind of notion. And the claim also erases history because Crimean Tatars were forcibly removed from Crimea by the dictator Stalin.
This is the President's most insidious myth, the third one; recognizing Crimea could help improve relations with Russia.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman's time is expired.
Mr. CONNOLLY. I don't think so. Russia has a much more extensive agenda.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman's time is expired.
Mr. CONNOLLY. It is time for the United States to recognize----
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is no longer recognized.
Mr. CONNOLLY. * * *.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President of the United States.
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