Melanie Stansbury: “I rise in the strongest opposition to this defense spending bill because, once again, in the dark of night, the GOP is…”

“I rise in the strongest opposition to this defense spending bill because, once again, in the dark of night, the GOP is passing bills, stripping the American people of their safety, security, and support. Last night at 3 a.m., the Senate shoved through a dangerous rescissions package that guts foreign aid and public broadcasting. Just this morning, the OMB Director suggested that he was just getting started and didn't care whether or not the appropriations process proceeded as our Founding Fathers and the Constitution imagined it. He said it should be more partisan and that he would continue to send rescissions packages like the one that they passed on the Senate floor last night. Let us be clear. The White House and an unelected bureaucrat are trying to steal the power of the purse and to steal the power of the people. To my colleagues across the aisle, it is happening under their watch. They are allowing it, enabling it, and giving away our constitutional authority to a corrupt and chaotic administration, while trying to pass fake bills like the one they have on this floor right now. It will weaken our military readiness, abandon our allies, and strip servicemembers of tools, training, and pay. It will undermine our national security and abandon our troops and, yes, make the world less safe. Mr. Chair, I ask my colleagues across the aisle what they are doing. How can they abandon the American people, the Constitution, our troops, and our national security?”