Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak against a push by the administration and its allies here in Congress to ignore U.S. law--this time, to ignore the legal prohibition on using U.S. taxpayer dollars to fund UNESCO. Frankly, it is an indictment against the administration and some of our colleagues that we have to go through this song and dance every year or whenever a funding measure is set to come to the floor; yet here we are again, as some in Congress want to help President Obama circumvent and undermine U.S. law and restore at least partial funding for UNESCO, so that that body can continue to push its anti-U.S./anti- Israel agenda. Time and again, the President has taken unilateral action meant to get around congressional opposition and has openly stated that he will continue to do so. Since 1990, U.S. law has prohibited any funding to the U.N. or to any U.N. agency that gives the PLO membership status and recognizes the nonexistent State of Palestine. UNESCO was well aware of our laws when its members voted to include this so-called Palestine among its ranks, triggering the U.S. funding prohibition. President Obama knew this when we cut off UNESCO's funding in response because it is the law; however, since then, he has sought ways to undermine and circumvent this law to not only restore funding to UNESCO, but to also pay dues in arrears which now would amount to over $300 million in U.S. taxpayer dollars.…”