On the recordMay 17, 2022
today the Senate is considering a bill to give $40 billion to Ukraine. This bill brings up the questions of both constitutionality and also affordability. There was an essay written in 1867 that was published in Harper's Magazine. It was called ``Not Yours To Give.'' It is the story of Davy Crockett as a Congressman in the late 1820s. Like most stories of that vintage, some will argue that the story is an accurate rendition while others may say it is apocryphal. The moral of the story, however, is incontestable. Davy Crockett only served two terms in Congress, but on one day in Congress he was confronted with a bill to give money to the widow of a military officer. Davy Crockett arose and gave this speech. Mr. Speaker--I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Davy Crockett continued: I am the poorest man on this floor.…
