It’s been almost a month since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unilateral and unprovoked war against Ukraine. The videos and images of innocent civilians caught in the crossfire are plastered all over the media.
The people of Ukraine, despite grave losses, have inspired the world to take action and support them in their struggle.
Through courage and tenacity, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has emerged as one of the premiere leaders on the global stage.
I was fortunate Wednesday to sit among my fellow members of Congress and witness Zelensky give one of the most important wartime speeches since Winston Churchill in December 1941.
However, by failing to support Ukraine adequately, Biden risks becoming a modern-day Neville Chamberlain, prioritizing appeasement policies with our adversaries.
To that end, my House Freedom Caucus colleagues and I fought for Ukrainian aid to be separate from the government spending bill that was rushed through the House last week. The urgent needs of the Ukrainian people necessitated swift support.
Every government funding bill deserves careful analysis and thoughtful debate.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, with another one of her famous beltway tricks, robbed us of that opportunity by bundling both bills together. Democrats knew the only way they could fast-track their 2,700-page bill was by tying it to urgent funding for Ukraine!
That way, she could pillory any legislator who truly wanted to do their job and review the spending bill as “pro-Putin.”
The public is sick and tired of these Beltway games. And the Ukrainians deserve better than being pawns in her political games.
As I’ve mentioned previously, Pelosi and her Democratic colleagues have a reckless habit of developing Frankenstein bills in the middle of the night and forcing members to vote on them before anyone has the chance to read them!
As a result, billions of dollars of potential waste get signed into law. Even her fellow Democrats will quietly admit that they’re frustrated by this process.
Yet, Pelosi manipulates the liberal media and the power of her position as the speaker of the House to shame members of Congress into supporting her bloated bureaucratic budgets.
Bills like this are a large part of why rampant inflation is crippling our country.
Almost every reputable economist agrees that one of the most effective ways to cut inflation is to cut government spending.
Yet, if the Democrats had their way, we’d be committed to another $3 trillion of spending with Biden’s Build Back Better Act on top of this $1.5 trillion omnibus.
That’s why I joined my fellow Freedom Caucus colleagues in taking a stand against Pelosi’s reckless and rushed legislation.
No less than 12 hours after the massive omnibus bill was released, I successfully delayed consideration with a procedural motion to adjourn to give both members and their staff a chance to read (and vet) it.
And although the omnibus passed, my motion to adjourn caused Democrats to strip the entire $15.6 billion of unnecessary COVID-19 funding from their spending bill once members had the opportunity to see the details!
This was one of the most significant cost-saving motions to adjourn in U.S. history!
The country deserves way better than Pelosi’s backroom, budget-busting deals.
The Ukrainian people deserve better than being lumped in with the Democrats’ rushed spending legislation.
And people deserve to know where their elected officials stand on massive foreign policy decisions.
No matter where you stand on Ukraine, the world is on the brink of a major power war between nuclear powers — which could escalate into World War III.
If that doesn’t merit thoughtful debate with recorded votes, I don’t know what does!
Rep. Jody Hice is a Republican who represents Georgia’s 10th Congressional District.
