Todd Tiahrt: “we have been trying to move to verify how these Nunn-Lugar funds are being spent. I had an incident occur in Fort Riley…”

“we have been trying to move to verify how these Nunn-Lugar funds are being spent. I had an incident occur in Fort Riley, KS, which is just north of my district, which we checked into the financing of. What happened is we paid for the jet fuel for two IL-76's to bring over approximately 150 Russian soldiers. They then went to Fort Riley and we showed them our latest hardware. Then we put them on charter buses and ran them over to Topeka, KS, to show them the treasures of the czar. Then we hauled them back and eventually brought them back down to McConnell Air Force Base, near Wichita, and flew them back to Russia, all at taxpayers' expenses. So I inquired where did these funds come from, from the Pentagon, and lo and behold some of these funds come from Nunn-Lugar. Now, whether this is a good opportunity or not, I think we should have Russians as friends rather than enemies, but these funds are not being spent as they were intended. They are not reducing the amount of chemical weapons and biological weapons and not reducing the nuclear threat as they were intended do. So, if they are not going to do it, the administration fails to verify, where is the evidence this is actually occurring in Russia? We hear about other countries, but what about Russia? Why should we borrow money from our children's future to fund these trips over here to America to the treasures of the czar and not let the money go for the specific purposes?”