Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of my floor amendment, which would prevent funding in this bill from being used to support the Biden administration's failed and, frankly, humiliating efforts to build a pier off the shore of Gaza. Mr. Chair, this pier honestly has to be one of the most embarrassing pieces of performance art I have ever seen in my 27-year military career. It has now cost in excess of $300 million to build. It has had to repeatedly halt operations. It has put our servicemembers at risk. It has broken up several times due to sea states and weather that the administration was repeatedly briefed on ahead of President Biden's announcement. So far, the pier has resulted in almost no aid to the Palestinian people. We have three U.S. servicemembers injured. We have one in critical condition. You will remember, Mr. Chair, that President Biden, right there where you are standing, announced this harebrained idea during the State of the Union address back in March and reportedly surprised the Pentagon with the announcement as they weren't informed ahead of time. Because of that surprise, it took nearly 2 months to get the ships and the equipment into place, and the first truckloads of aid did not begin moving ashore until May 17. Of those shipments, in the first shipment, 16 trucks left the pier, got on shore, and 11 out of the 16 were looted, intercepted, or attacked. Only 5 of that 16 made it to the warehouse, and guess what?…”