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“RECOGNIZING THE INCREDIBLE AND HEROIC ADVOCACY OF ELIZABETH WHELAN” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the in the House section section on page H1935 on April 25.
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:
RECOGNIZING THE INCREDIBLE AND HEROIC ADVOCACY OF ELIZABETH WHELAN
(Ms. STEVENS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
Ms. STEVENS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the incredible and heroic advocacy of Elizabeth Whelan, the sister of my wrongfully detained constituent, U.S. citizen, and Michigander, Paul Whelan.
Paul Whelan is the longest detained American in Russia. Since his detention in December 2018, Elizabeth has been his fiercest advocate and tireless champion, alongside her brother, David; and parents, Rosemary and Ed.
Elizabeth has spent nearly $100,000 of her own money in the last 5 years to travel to D.C. to meet with political leaders and State Department officials to receive updates on Paul's case, and fight for his release.
Yesterday, speaking at the United Nations, alongside U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Elizabeth directly confronted Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, and implored him to release Paul and to end their cruel practice of hostage diplomacy.
Elizabeth's speech has reverberated around the world. It has made its way to Paul's prison camp in Mordovia.
I have been honored to work with Elizabeth for many years and she will always serve as an inspiration to me and my staff.
Her words yesterday speak for themselves: ``Paul has not committed a crime, but a crime has been committed against him.''
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