[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 179 (Tuesday, October 31, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5235-S5236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING

  Mr. SCHUMER. Now, Mr. President, on the business of today, today the 
Senate Appropriations Committee hears testimony from the Secretary of 
Defense and the Secretary of State on President Biden's emergency 
supplemental request, sent to Congress to address the national security 
threats happening around the world.
  The right path forward for Congress is clear. We must stand with our 
allies in Israel; we must send humanitarian aid to innocent civilians 
in Gaza; we must give aid to Ukraine and hold the line against Vladimir 
Putin; and we must rebuff the aggressions of the Chinese Communist 
Party in the Indo-Pacific.
  As has been true from the start of this Congress, bipartisan 
cooperation will be the only way anything gets to the President's desk.
  So I am deeply troubled that yesterday, House Republicans released a 
partisan and woefully inadequate package with no aid to Ukraine, no 
humanitarian assistance for Gaza, no funding for the Indo-Pacific, and, 
in addition, poison pills that increase the deficit

[[Page S5236]]

and help wealthy tax cheats avoid paying their fair share.
  The House GOP bill is woefully inadequate and has the hard right's 
fingerprints all over it. It makes aid for Israel, which has just faced 
the worst terrorist attack in its history, contingent on poison pills 
that reward rich tax cheats. In short, it makes it much, much harder to 
pass aid for Israel.
  It is insulting that the hard right is openly trying to exploit the 
crisis in Israel to try and reward the ultrarich. The new Speaker knows 
perfectly well that if you want to help Israel, you can't propose 
legislation that is full of poison pills. And this kind of unnecessary 
partisan legislation sends the wrong message to our allies and 
adversaries around the world.
  It is almost as if the real goal of this House GOP package is not to 
help Israel but to get tax relief for the superwealthy, while leaving 
out Ukraine aid, leaving out humanitarian aid for Gaza, leaving out 
funding for the Indo-Pacific.
  Instead of advancing a serious proposal to defend Israel, defend 
Ukraine, and provide humanitarian aid, this House GOP proposal is 
clearly designed to divide Congress on a partisan basis, not unite it. 
The Speaker's allies have said as much to the press. I hope the new 
Speaker realizes that this is a grave mistake and quickly changes 
course. To protect Americans against any one of these foreign threats, 
we must protect against them all, because you can be sure that 
President Xi will watch what America does in Ukraine, just as much as 
they watch what we do in Israel, in the Indo Pacific, and everywhere 
else. And the last thing Republicans in Congress should be doing is 
exploiting the crisis in Israel to sneak in a highly partisan provision 
that caters to the ultrarich, as the GOP package blatantly does.

  As I mentioned when I spoke to Speaker Johnson the night of his 
election, the only way we will get anything done is in a bipartisan 
way. Unfortunately, in his first major decision as Speaker, Speaker 
Johnson has ignored that advice.

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