Senator Paul’s amendment to stop military foreign assistance to Egypt is tabled in the Senate
In a Senate vote today, Sen. Rand Paul’s amendment (Amendment No. 1739) to S. 1243, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill, which would have stopped military foreign assistance to Egypt by enforcing current law that the Obama Administration is violating, which prohibits the United States from providing foreign assistance to nations that experience a military coups d’état, was tabled with a vote of 13-86.
That money would have been redirected to the “Bridges in Critical Corridors” fund in S.1243.
“We tell other countries to follow the rule of law, yet our own Administration fails to do so. Sending money to Egypt under their current military coups is illegal,” Sen. Paul said Tuesday. “Instead of illegally sending that money overseas, we are better off spending that money at home.”
In a speech on the Senate floor today, prior to the vote, Paul said:
The President sends billions of dollars to Egypt in the form of advanced fighter planes and tanks. Meanwhile, Detroit crumbles. Chicago is a war zone. More people die in Chicago this year than in Afghanistan. Yet, the President insists on building a $34 million forth — fort in Afghanistan. Hillary Clinton insists on spending $80 million on a consulate in Afghanistan that will never be used.
As Detroit decays, Chicago’s a maelstrom of violence, and yet no one questions sending billions of your dollars to Egypt, to despots, to dictators in foreign countries. Our nation’s bridges are crumbling, and few politicians from either party will question billions of dollars are being sent overseas while our nation’s infrastructures crumbling.
The law is very clear. Everyone here in Congress can read. They recognize, they recognize that the law says when there is a military coup, the aid must end. Today we will vote on whether or not they will obey the law or whether they will openly flout the law and disobey. When a military coup overturns a democratically elected government, all military aid must end. That’s the law. There is no presidential waiver.
The law states unequivocally that the aid must end. So when the military coup occurred in Egypt, how did the President respond? How did Congress respond? The President and his cohorts in Congress responded by shoveling good money after bad into the failed state of Egypt. The President is intent on building nations abroad and not taking care of our nation here at home.
The 13 Senators voted “nay” on tabling the amendment include Paul, Barrasso (R-WY), Coburn (R-OK), Crapo (R-ID), Cruz (R-TX), Enzi (R-WY), Grassley (R-IA), Heller (R-NV), Lee (R-UT), McConnell (R-KY), Moran (R-KS), Risch (R-ID), Thune (R-SD).
Sen. Paul posted on his official Facebook page–“Earlier today, the Senate voted to table my amendment and thus voted to continue to illegally aid Egypt. This vote shows how out of touch Congress is.”
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