Benjamin Gilman: “I appeared before the Committee on Rules yesterday to oppose making in order section 8102 of this bill. Section 8102…”

“I appeared before the Committee on Rules yesterday to oppose making in order section 8102 of this bill. Section 8102 authorizes the transfer of naval vessels to certain foreign nations. It directly concerns the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act, and thus falls squarely within the jurisdiction of the Committee on International Relations. In addition, it constitutes an item of authorization that directly violates clause 2 of rule XXI of the House. This section should be subject to a point of order on this bill, but it is not, because the Committee on Rules and the leadership of this house chose to protect the provision. Section 8102 also establishes a new military foreign aid program for two countries that we graduated from foreign aid just last year, and also uses a budget maneuver to fund this new foreign aid program, while providing another $500 million in spending in this bill.”