Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. SPARTZ. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, I have held a very principled position on Ukraine and, unfortunately, this position is not very shared with a lot of people in Congress. It is unfortunate.

We have the false choice of either saying that Ukraine doesn't matter to America or support Ukraine with no questions asked, with blank checks. Both of these positions are not good in our national interests, and both of these positions are not good in the interests of the people of Ukraine. Unfortunately, this monopoly of a narrative is prevailing in our government, in our society, and in Congress.

My amendment is actually very simple. I know we are doing this amendment just for show, and no one is going to pass anything on the floor. We still will go with blank checks and slush funds. Unfortunately, this strategy failed the American people. President Biden failed the American people on the border and on national security. Congress failed the American people on the border and on national security. President Biden and President Zelenskyy failed the Ukrainian people. They were not ready before the war started. They didn't have a good strategy when the war started; slow-walked the aid and really didn't fight and deter Putin to go further. Now, we have a very significant war in Europe.

I said, unfortunately, this supplemental doesn't just have lethal aid, it has other parts, and they will go further. Unfortunately, nobody is going to take in our amendment. We have presentations and circuses, but the decision is already made.

My amendment is actually very simple. It just says we shouldn't have blank checks and let President Biden have Presidential drawdowns increase from $100 million to $8 billion, including loans from $4- to $8 billion, so we are generally giving a true blank check to President Biden of $16 billion.

Congress forgot that we should do our jobs. We shouldn't create these loopholes for Presidents--it doesn't matter who the President is--to be able to do what they want to do. This is our job to oversee these funds.

It is a very simple amendment. This emergency that we created now goes to the point where Congress is giving billions of dollars and not doing its job. We have the power of the purse for a reason. All this amendment does, it eliminates forced action that increases--and it is a true blank check because when we say the Presidential drawdown goes from $100 million to $8 billion almost, or from $200 million to $400 million, from $25 to $50 million, we really don't even know what he is going to do. He can do whatever he wants with that.

That is a big problem because these emergencies are dangerous, but also the problem we have right now in the case of these emergencies, we actually don't have the ability even to ask the questions, and Congress hasn't been asking the questions. That is why we have such a major catastrophe around the world, whether it is in the Middle East or Ukraine, and that is why China, Russia, and Iran are moving, and we are doing a lot of presentations with blank checks and slush funds and no policies.

I urge my colleagues to think maybe for a change and give this amendment consideration, which I have very low expectations for. I also would consider, as I said, to supporting lethal aid with border security, but unfortunately that didn't happen.

It is sad for me to see that we still don't take this war as serious as it should be because generally only $13.7 billion actually goes to security assistance directly to Ukraine from the $60 billion plus another $8 billion slush fund, so we are talking almost $70 billion, plus another $8 billion of loans, whoever they go to. We are talking about almost 80, so I have a problem with that.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. SPARTZ. Mr. Chair, may I inquire how much time I have remaining.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. SPARTZ. Mr. Chair, I would highlight that we are increasing a blank check from $100 million to $8 billion, and we don't even know if it is spent for Ukraine or not. It is just a blank check of $16 billion to President Biden, a purely blank check.

I urge my colleagues to support my amendment because we need to stop slush funds and blank checks. We will never win against aggressors if Congress does not do its job.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. SPARTZ. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source