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Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, it is astonishing, as I come to the floor, to listen to the Democrat minority leader. We just heard his comments about foreign aid keeping ``Russia and China at bay.'' If it were only the case.

The minority leader has a long and spirited history of wasting American taxpayer dollars. Now he wants to send taxpayer dollars overseas to pay for climate projects and vegan food programs. Apparently, that is what he means when he talks about foreign aid keeping Russia and China at bay. He forgot to mention that he wants to spend half a million dollars to put electric vehicles--electric buses-- on the streets of Rwanda. He forgot to mention that he wants to spend $6 million on net zero cities in Mexico. He forgot to mention he wants to continue to spend over $100,000 for media training in Liberia.

Mr. President, I ask, how does that keep Russia and China at bay? He failed to mention that he wants to continue to spend $3.3 million on civic engagement in Zimbabwe. He didn't say any of that because there is no good reason at all for that kind of wasteful Washington spending. None of that spending helps farmers or ranchers in my home State of Wyoming. None of this spending helps struggling families.

In November, Americans voted to end this wasteful Washington spending. Voters got it right. Chuck Schumer gets it wrong. How many people went to the polls and told politicians to spend $7.4 million of their hard-earned money on teaching foreign countries about environmental racism? No one.

Democrats love to hide behind fearmongering, and that is what the minority leader has done again today. Democrats never stand up and defend their spending on the merits. I don't see Democrats coming to the floor and talking about those projects that they want to see continued because they know it doesn't hold up to the least amount of public scrutiny. The American people look at this, and for them, the issue is quite simple. Their taxpayer dollars are being wasted and have been wasted for a long time. The Democrats in this body want to continue wasting them.

We still have families digging out from the worst inflation in 40 years. We have cities overwhelmed by illegal immigrants and the crime that they are bringing to these communities. People deserve to have their taxpayer dollars spent on issues that are focused on their priorities. President Trump sent Congress a proposal to rein in some of the worst wasteful spending.

How do the Democrats respond? Well, they are threatening to shut down the Government of the United States. Democrats are fighting tooth and nail to protect programs most Americans didn't know even existed and they wouldn't support if they knew they existed. That is what we are doing today: exposing some of these terrible programs and wasteful Washington spending.

It is indefensible what has happened with spending in the past with the last administration. If we have another Schumer shutdown--we have had one before--if we have another one, the American people will pay a heavy price. Seniors who rely on Social Security, military families living paycheck to paycheck, and border patrol agents will be forced to work without pay. Why? So the Democrats can continue to send Americans' taxpayer dollars to foreign countries for very questionable projects.

I heard the minority leader lecture us before about bipartisanship and regular order. Well, look at what has happened. When Senator Schumer was the majority leader of the U.S. Senate a year ago, the Senate Appropriations Committee--the committee itself--passed 11 of 12 appropriations bills. They did it by December of 2024, 1 year ago from now.

Many of those bills that came through the committee received unanimous support by the Republicans and the Democrats on the committee. So what happened? Well, Republicans supported getting all these bills done on time through the committee on a bipartisan basis. What did Senator Schumer do with these bills? He was the majority leader. He had control of the agenda of the floor of the U.S. Senate. He sat on them for 225 days. He didn't bring them to the floor of the U.S. Senate. Oh, no. He refused to bring a single bill to the floor of the U.S. Senate for a single vote not because he couldn't, because he refused to.

The American voters revolted, changed parties of the President, Senate, and the House. Now he wants to be the one to blame Republicans for gridlock. This is the height of hypocrisy.

That is what we are dealing with, Mr. President. I am all for regular order. That is why I want to commend Senator Susan Collins for her leadership now as the Republican chairman of the Appropriations Committee in the Senate. She is working in good faith. She is committed to getting the job done.

This debate is about more than dollars and cents. It is about priorities and about how we spend American taxpayer dollars. Americans didn't vote to continue the Green New Deal or even try to force it on the rest of the world. The American people voted to fix what is broken here at home. Republicans have our priorities straight. Republicans are focusing on making our Nation safer and more prosperous. Republicans are getting this country back on track.

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