[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 161 (Monday, October 2, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H4937]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 SECRET SIDE DEAL ON UKRAINIAN FUNDING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Gaetz) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise to raise a question: What was the 
secret side deal on Ukraine?
  House Democrats and President Biden have said that as Speaker 
McCarthy was asking Republicans to vote for a continuing resolution so 
as to avoid having to take the Senate's plus-up in Ukraine money, that 
the Speaker of the House was actually cutting a side deal to bring 
Ukraine legislation to this floor with President Biden and House 
Democrats.
  So let me get this straight: To extend Joe Biden's spending and Joe 
Biden's policy priorities, the Speaker of the House gave away to Joe 
Biden the money for Ukraine that Joe Biden wanted.
  It is going to be difficult for my Republican friends to keep calling 
President Biden feeble while he continues to take Speaker McCarthy's 
lunch money in every negotiation.
  The Speaker of the House has responded to these reports of a secret 
side deal on money for Ukraine, opaquely stating that he still wants to 
fund Ukraine and our border.
  I have a few replies to this statement.
  First, the Speaker's statement confirms the existence of a secret 
deal. I have talked to Members of our own leadership who have said they 
didn't even know that Speaker McCarthy was negotiating a secret side 
deal outside of our Conference, outside of his own leadership team for 
the sake of Ukraine.
  Second, Ukraine has lost the support of a majority of the majority. 
The last time there was a freestanding Ukraine vote on this floor, it 
was last week--101 Republicans voted for it, 117 Republicans voted 
against it.
  According to the Hastert rule, which Speaker McCarthy agreed to in 
January, you cannot use Democrats to roll a majority of the majority on 
something as consequential as Ukraine. So for all the crocodile tears 
about what may happen later this week about a motion to vacate, working 
with the Democrats is a yellow brick road that has been paved by 
Speaker McCarthy, whether it was the debt limit deal, the CR, or now 
the secret deal on Ukraine.
  Third, this is swampy logrolling. The American people deserve single-
subject bills. I get that a lot of folks might disagree with my 
perspectives on the border or on Ukraine, but can we at least agree 
that no matter how you feel about Ukraine or the southern border, they 
each deserve the dignity of their own consideration and should not be 
rolled together where they might pass where each individually wouldn't?

  This is what we are trying to get away from. This is the spirit of 
the January agreement we made with the Speaker. No more lashing these 
disparate issues together so that the American people's interests are 
subjugated here on the floor of the House.
  Do you know how we should stand up for our border? Demand that the 
United States Senate take up our single-subject appropriation bill that 
funded the border. It created Republican unity. We voted for it. It has 
the policy demands that the continuing resolution that Speaker McCarthy 
advocated for on this floor did not.
  Our DHS's funding bill requires E-Verify, and then hours later after 
we passed that, the Speaker wanted us to vote for a continuing 
resolution that didn't include E-Verify. Retreat is never a strategy to 
win anything.
  Mr. Speaker, just tell us, what was in the secret Ukraine side deal? 
What commitments were made to President Biden to continue the spending 
of President Biden in exchange for doing things for President Biden? It 
is becoming increasingly clear who the Speaker of the House already 
works for, and it is not the Republican Conference.
  Mr. Speaker, I would ask that these questions be answered soon 
because there may be other votes coming today or later this week that 
could be impacted by the answers to these questions. Members of the 
Republican Party might vote differently on a motion to vacate if they 
heard what the Speaker had to share with us about his secret side deal 
with Joe Biden on Ukraine. I will be listening. Stay tuned.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
engaging in personalities toward the President and to direct their 
remarks to the chair.

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