Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise to support S.J. Res. 36 and the other measures related to arms sales being considered this afternoon, which will prevent three sets of arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE without undergoing the proper congressional notification process. We are here today because rather than come and make their case to Congress, the administration invented a phony emergency to bypass the legal process for approving arms sales. There is no justification for this decision, other than the administration knew that these sales would be met with scrutiny from Congress and didn't want to deal with it. Well, they were right. Congress is concerned about these proposed sales, and we should not sit back and allow the administration to continue with the charade of claiming an emergency exemption for them. I am glad that these measures of disapproval have bipartisan support and have already passed the Republican-led Senate. I urge all of my colleagues to support them today. The administration briefed this body on Iran just days before the supposed emergency was declared and never mentioned an emergency. We are supposed to believe that, within a matter of days, the situation escalated so quickly that they were forced to bypass Congress. Most of the weapons included in the emergency sales are offensive weapons, and much of the sale will be delivered months or years from now, further evidence that no emergency exists.…”