,
16 tweets,
3 min read
Read on Twitter
One Lone Star in Congress - The Post & Email thepostemail.com/2019/05/24/one…
This was a case of a “Lone Star” Republican congressman placing his deeply-held principles above political expediency. His opposition derailed the “fast track” approval for the legislation. The next “pro forma” vote may take place next week at the earliest
According to Roy, “I’m here today primarily because if I do not object, Congress will have passed into law a bill that spends $19 billion of taxpayer money without members of Congress being present in our nation’s capital to vote on it.”
It is disgusting that Congress tries to pass billions of dollars in spending without a thorough examination of the legislation, and a detailed discussion by the members of Congress. By objecting, Roy exposed the sham operations of our U.S. Congress once again
Roy also listed several other reasons for opposing the legislation. He said, “the bill includes nothing to address the clear national emergency and humanitarian crisis we face at our southern border.”
President Trump had requested the bill contain $4.5 billion for the ever-growing emergency at the border, but these funds were not included in the final draft of the legislation.
Roy noted that the bill included “over $19 billion that is not paid for when we are racking up approximately $100 million an hour in national debt.” With our national debt exceeding $22 trillion, Roy’s message is one our nation sorely needs to hear.
Of course, his courageous move was lambasted by Democrats. Donna Shalala (D-FL) called Roy’s opposition “tragic” and House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowery blamed Roy and “House Republicans” for “making disaster victims wait even longer to get the help they need.”
This bill has been debated for months and debate should continue until major improvements are made. Roy deserves praise for being the lone objector to this bill. Any “disaster” bill needs to include funding for the biggest “disaster” this nation faces, which is at our border.
Our overburdened Border Patrol agents are being overwhelmed trying to handle a massive flood of illegal aliens. This is a humanitarian, economic and national security crisis that Congress refuses to address.
Senate Republicans had persuaded President Trump to drop his opposition to the disaster relief bill by promising him another piece of legislation would be introduced to deal with the border emergency later
Unfortunately, Americans have heard these promises for decades. Republicans in Congress always want to pass pork-barrel legislation without border funding with the promise that they will soon address the crisis.
As Americans have witnessed so many times, the Republicans never get around to dealing with the border issue, so no progress is ever made and the biggest emergency that our nation is facing keeps getting worse.
Hopefully, when the Congress revisits this legislation, either next week or in June, the President’s request for border funding will be included. By preventing unanimous consent, U.S. Representative Roy has given Congress an opportunity to improve the legislation.
He has also shown tremendous backbone in withstanding the criticism that is now directed at him from both Democrats and his fellow Republicans.
While everyone knows the Democrats are not concerned about the border crisis or deficit spending, it is now apparent that too many of Roy’s Republican colleagues do not care about these issues, either.
