Unanimous Consent Request--S. 3811
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, I also rise to protest the manner in which funding for the people of Ukraine has been strapped to this spending bill, thereby delaying aid to Ukraine and strapping it to a bill that is going to need days to get to the President's desk so it is in good shape.
I have been following--just as you have--the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, and I am incredibly concerned for the people there: the women and children who have been murdered in the streets by Vladimir Putin's bombs, the housing complexes that have been destroyed, the maternity hospital that was bombed just yesterday, all from unprovoked Russian aggression.
We want to help these people. The people of Wyoming whom I represent want to help these people.
Because of this, I was particularly appalled at the decision by congressional Democrats to include Ukraine aid funding in the massive government funding omnibus bill that we are starting to consider.
We could get this Ukraine money on its way today. We could get it to the President's desk today. Most of us agree. I think it would be unanimous to send the money to Ukraine.
As a former House Member and a longtime legislator, I know that any big piece of legislation has good pieces and bad or, as former U.S. Senator Al Simpson used to say, ``some spinach.'' But this is a cynical approach to legislating.
It forces Members of Congress to make an unnecessary choice: choose between helping the Ukrainian people and further indebting our own constituents. It is a cynical ploy, and it is cynical because of what is in the rest of bill, the omnibus spending bill. At a time when the United States is over $30 trillion in debt, instead of taking a serious look at our budget, we are piling on.
We are increasing nondefense discretionary spending by 7 percent, even though inflation this year is more than 7 percent. Worse still, the omnibus continues to fund President Biden's vaccine mandates, even after the President himself called for a return to normal. This bill also contains anti-Second Amendment provisions that threaten the rights of law-abiding citizens in Wyoming. Finally, after banning the practice for years, this omnibus contains around $10 billion in earmarks for pet projects around the country.
Here is the book of earmarks. Look how thick this is. It is printed on both sides in about 4-point font. You almost have to have a looking glass to see what is in here--4,000 earmarks after we had gotten away from this.
I am sympathetic to the argument that earmarks are a more direct way of addressing problems around the country, but historically they have been abused as a way for leadership to whip votes on bad legislation and a way to fund unnecessary pet projects to curry favor back home.
But instead of having a debate about these and other concerns of the massive spending bill, Ukraine funding was dropped in here in an effort to get Members to vote for a bad bill so we can get funding to Ukraine.
We should have a stand-alone vote on the aid for the people of Ukraine. This issue is entirely separate from the omnibus spending bill that Congress is considering and should be recognized as such on the Senate floor. Anything less does a disservice to the people we are trying to help and to the American people we serve.
I am proud of Senator Rick Scott for calling for a separate vote to help the people of Ukraine.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source