Sen. Marco Rubio ( R- FL ) on the Senate floor Tuesday decried the$ 95 billion foreign aid package, calling it “legislative blackmail” to get Republicans to drop their demand for border security.
Republicans like Rubio object to the$ 95 billion foreign aid package because they believe any additional aid must be combined with legislation to address the southern border migrant crisis.
Rubio was one of the 19 lawmakers to oppose , the movement to summon cloture on the international aid package.
The Florida lawmaker claimed on the Senate surface that Congress must place the needs of America first before tackling other problems.
He said,” I have older citizens, I have soldiers, and they call my office and they say,’ I have nowhere to live, cover is also pricey’ … And the most we can usually do is help get them on a waiting list for part eight housing. This issue is one that is still present in America today.
Rubio continued,” I have to vote for investing billions of dollars to provide charity groups billions of dollars so they can travel people around the nation and put them up in hotel rooms or so they can help settlement in another country. I want to help Israel, I want to help Taiwan, I want to support Ukraine, I want to ban TikTok.”
In exchange for passing foreign aid, Rubio said that this bill was comparable to “legislative blackmail.”
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He said:
But this bill is not that. This bill is not a compromise. In essence, this bill states that if I do n’t agree to let the president secure our border, if I do n’t agree to spend billions of dollars on resettlement of people in other countries in the midst of our own migrant crisis, if I do n’t agree to all of that, then Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine wo n’t receive the assistance they need—and that I support—and that TikTok does not get banned. This is not a compromise. This is legislative blackmail, and I will not vote for blackmail.   ,]Emphasis added]
This is not compromise. This is legislative blackmail. And I will not vote for blackmail. pic. twitter.com/atNSFeWxR1
— Senator Marco Rubio ( @SenMarcoRubio ) April 23, 2024
Rubio is one of the fewer Republicans who oppose the foreign aid plan of the congressional leadership.
In February, 29 senators opposed the foreign aid package, now, only 19 senators oppose the legislation.
Rachel Bovard and other conservative figures have taken into account how significant it is that Rubio opposes the foreign aid package.
She wrote:
On the Senate floor, ranking member of the Intel Committee, Marco Rubio, is expressing his opposition to the UKR supplemental. Even though he supports aid to Ukraine, Israel, and TikTok divestment,” this bill is not compromise, this is legislative blackmail. And I wo n’t support blackmail, which is also accompanied by extensive migrant resettlement language and inadequate border security.
On the Senate floor, ranking member of the Intel Committee, Marco Rubio, is expressing his opposition to the UKR supplemental. Even though he supports aid to Ukraine, Israel, and TikTok divestment,” this bill is not compromise, this is legislative blackmail. And I will not vote…
— Rachel Bovard ( @rachelbovard ) April 23, 2024
She added”, The SCIF does n’t work on everyone. How refreshing.”
For Breitbart News, Sean Moran covers policy reporting. Follow him on Twitter , @SeanMoran3.
