Steve Israel: “I think that we're all beginning to figure this out now. When this original amendment was offered, it was advertised as…”

“I think that we're all beginning to figure this out now. When this original amendment was offered, it was advertised as a cut to the foreign assistance budget, despite the fact that Democrats already cut the foreign assistance budget. Then we were told, oh, except it doesn't really include Israel. We're exempting Israel. Then we were told, oh, it's Israel, and also, any appropriations that are not required to be appropriated or otherwise made available by a provision of law. And so we start off with a cut, and then we say, well, not really a cut. We're going to void this and ignore that and sequester this and sequester that. We're down to Secretary of State licensed chauffeur, my colleagues. That's what we're down to. We're down to the linens at state dinners. If you want to do a cut, do a cut. If my colleagues want to do a cut, do a cut. But don't try and fool the American people. All we've heard from the other side is we have to ferret out waste, fraud and abuse, except we can't exactly find it, so we'll let you figure out. Well, the American people have figured it out. You said you don't want to hurt national security, and yet this is a cut to foreign military financing. You've said you want to win the global war on terror, and yet this is a cut to international military education and training. You've said you want to cut, but not here, there, or anywhere else.…”