Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2025
Floor Speech
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Mr. PERRY. Madam Chair, I want to start out by thanking my good friend from Florida for his hard work and effort on this and also for his hard work and his outstanding effort to speak on behalf of the Cuban people who wish to be free and to speak against communism worldwide. I thank him for that.
Everyday Americans across our Nation, like the folks that I have the honor to represent in Pennsylvania in the Tenth Congressional District, just a few hours from this place, are still suffering the impacts of this administration's reckless spending.
Unlike the Federal Government, they have to make tough choices. They have got to make their budgets balance. They can't just print money. They have got to stretch their dollars. They have to forgo auto repairs or maybe something around their home that needs attention, take items off their grocery list, choose different items that they can afford, all because of too much spending. They pare back their spending in ways that may be uncomfortable because we won't in this town.
To me, it is unacceptable and it is unconscionable. Madam Chair, the United States Congress has been unwilling to do the same for decades now.
While, like last year, I appreciate that the underlying bill has eliminated or reduced many wasteful accounts--and it has due to the good work of the chairman here--with all due respect, there is still a lot of work to be done and can be done.
The State Department and international organizations funded by the final State-Foreign Operations funding bills have time and time again advanced and sent American tax dollars to causes that run counter to American values and our foreign policy objectives.
This amendment reduces the amount for international disaster assistance from just over $3.4 billion to zero.
While I admire the desire of many, including myself, to be charitable and help others around the world, we have got to remember, we are being charitable with other people's money. We are being charitable with taxpayers' money, taxpayers that can barely afford their own bills, their own electricity bills, food bills, and daycare bills. God forbid you have got to buy a new car or a new home or pay the interest rates, all due to what is happening here.
We want to be charitable, but the fact of the matter, Madam Chair, is that America is broke. It is hard to help other folks when you can't help yourself.
This is nearly $3.5 billion, which like many of the other dollars spent in this bill, does not go directly to helping Americans in America. Our constituents simply can't afford yet another line item on their tab while they are already bearing the brunt of reckless spending by President Biden.
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Mr. PERRY. Madam Chair, we don't have to question each other's morality here. We all want to help. Everybody wants to be happy.
We are Representatives of the United States, and we are heading into disaster season in the United States of America. Whether it is hurricanes across the South or wildfires in the West, it is coming here.
This is about foreign disaster aid, Madam Chair, sending money abroad. We can always do that when there is something that happens. We can come to Congress here, and we can come in and vote for things at that time when they happen.
I want to say this, Madam Chair. We want to put our chairman in the best position possible to negotiate. This isn't about questioning our moral objectives party by party, side by side, but we know that there is going to be a negotiation with the Senate. We know that. We want to put this chairman in the best position possible.
Nobody here believes that we are going to end up with less than we go in with. You are going to end up with more. That is what happens every single time in this body.
Let's put this chairman in the best position possible when he goes in and they say: Oh, my goodness, this isn't going to work. Then he can negotiate from there. Maybe it is not $3.5 billion. Maybe it is $3.4 billion, which isn't a big reduction in Pennsylvania where people can't pay their electricity bills, but it is something. It is a start down the road. I want to put this chairman in the best possible position to negotiate.
Madam Chair, I urge adoption, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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