[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 41 (Thursday, March 7, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H1009-H1010]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        NO ARMY MONEY TO UKRAINE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Gaetz) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, I was so furious, but not surprised, when I 
saw the Bloomberg News report that the Biden administration is now 
considering draining $200 million out of Army reserves to send more 
money to Ukraine.
  The move would target reserve funds that this House has authorized 
and appropriated for this particular purpose, a purpose that is worthy, 
certainly more worthy than continuing involvement in the conflict in 
Ukraine that could lead to a tragic escalatory accident.
  I can't even believe this is a controversial view to take on this 
floor, but I believe that the U.S. Army reserves should actually be for 
the U.S. Army.
  By the way, it is not as if we don't have needs for our Army. How 
about the families of our soldiers?
  Right now, childcare is a real problem. We have Army soldiers who are 
driving 1\1/2\ hours or more each way just to drop off their kids at 
childcare. We could invest that money in our military families.
  Mr. Speaker, I could take you to the Army town of Crestview, Florida, 
in my district, where the school counselors are still helping Army 
families deal with the lingering effects of deployment after deployment 
after deployment. They could use more resources. They tell me: 
Congressman, if we had more resources for these Army families, they 
could improve quality of life and improve mental health.
  Not for nothing, but the Army was taking a leading role in 
hypersonics for our country. We have fallen behind China. If we have an 
extra $200 million laying around the Army, how about we invest in 
making sure that, with hypersonic weapons, we can hit a moving target--
I don't know--like China can? Instead, we see this attempt to drain 
resources away for Ukraine.
  When Joe Biden talked about campaigning for the soul of the Nation, I 
just assumed it was our Nation and not Ukraine.
  Moreover, Ukraine is no Garden of Eden for democracy. Senator Lee 
pointed out in a report that the CIA had to directly confront Zelenskyy 
about his own personal corruption.
  In Ukraine, they have canceled the Presidential elections. Call me 
old-fashioned, Mr. Speaker, but I actually prefer democracies that hold 
elections rather than canceling elections.
  While there were many concerns about the death of Navalny, 
appropriately, people forget the fact that Zelenskyy jailed a 
journalist, Gonzalo Lira, and that journalist died in a Ukrainian 
prison.

                              {time}  1100

  Tonight, you will hear President Biden come into this House, and the 
one thing that President Biden has in common with the American people 
is that both were far better off four years ago, Joe Biden physically, 
and the rest of us economically.
  Now, as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I will call 
for an investigation of any efforts to drain U.S. reserves to fund the 
war in Ukraine, and I would invite my fellow members of the Armed 
Services Committee to join me.
  What this reminded me of is when all the Democrats were crying 
alligator tears about President Trump using DOD money to fund the wall. 
My colleagues may accuse me of hypocrisy now because I supported 
President Trump in that endeavor, but I don't like the Biden 
administration going beyond what we set forth with our Article I 
powers.
  However, at least if I am being a hypocrite, I was doing so for the 
defense of America's borders and America's interests to stop an 
invasion that is killing hundreds of thousands of people through the 
introduction of fentanyl and an invasion that is diminishing the 
economic prospects of working people in this country.
  When my Democratic colleagues are hypocrites, Mr. Speaker, my 
colleagues

[[Page H1010]]

on the other side of the aisle serve as hypocrites and fund the 
pensions of government workers in Ukraine. It is not for nothing, but 
it wasn't that long ago that we found a person connected to the defense 
industrial complex in Ukraine exiting the country with a million 
dollars in U.S. cash in a shoebox.
  The corruption is real. America's interests are illusory, and we 
should never drain $200 million out of our Army that should go to 
military families, that should go to soldiers, and that should go to 
America's capabilities. It is America's capabilities that will define 
whether or not we hold the high ground, not which guy in a tracksuit is 
running Crimea.

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