Cornyn: "Political Theater" Comes At Expense Of Funding For Troops
Press Release
Cornyn: "Political Theater" Comes At Expense Of Funding For Troops
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, made the following statement regarding the $124 billion emergency supplemental appropriations bill passed today by the Senate by a vote of 51-47, despite a clear veto threat by President Bush:
"The President has vowed to veto this bill - as he well should - because our commanders in the field - not politicians in Washington - should be making the battlefield decisions that will allow our troops to complete their mission. This is political theater of the worst kind, because Senate Democrats moved forward despite knowing they don't have the votes necessary to override the President's veto. As a result, the funding that our troops on the frontlines need now, and the BRAC funding that our military bases in Texas will need in the immediate future, will be delayed even longer.
"It is similarly unconscionable that at a time when we seek to provide our troops with more armored vehicles and our military families with better living conditions, Senate Democrats would load a critical military funding bill with millions of dollars in unrelated pork-barrel spending. This only serves to increase the deficit and slow funding for the women and men fighting in the war on terror.
"This is a sad day for the United States Senate. I expect President Bush to promptly veto this bill, and it is my hope that Congress will then work in a bipartisan manner to send him a clean bill that he can sign - without delay. The men and women in our military deserve no less."
Sen. Cornyn serves on the Armed Services, Judiciary and Budget Committees. In addition, he is Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee's Immigration, Border Security and Refugees subcommittee and the Armed Services Committee's Airland subcommittee. He served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice, and Bexar County District Judge.
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