Dick Durbin Decries Cuts Proposed By Trump Administration To 'Low-Cost But Impactful Programs'

Forbes Breaking News

During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke about rescission bills proposed by President Trump.

Transcript

00:00I consent the quorum call be suspended.

00:01Without objection.

00:03Mr. President, on Tuesday, President Trump sent Congress proposed rescissions.

00:08A rescission bill is a cut to already enacted and funded programs.

00:13Looking closely at those cuts that have been proposed by the administration,

00:17I would like to speak to them this morning on the floor.

00:21Where has the President suggested we cut a very minuscule percentage of the federal budget

00:27to fund deficit-busting tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy from bipartisan programs,

00:33programs that both parties have supported for years,

00:37programs that help the poorest in the world survive,

00:40even lead a normal life suffering from HIV and AIDS,

00:46that help countries become healthy democracies,

00:49and trading partners literally for the United States,

00:52support peacekeeping efforts to prevent the spread of war and migration,

00:59programs that counter Chinese influence and help stem the flow of illicit drugs,

01:05radio and TV stations that provide news for America.

01:08That's where the President turned to make the cuts

01:11that he wants the money for to pay for a tax cut

01:15for the wealthiest people in America.

01:17For as long as I've been in Congress,

01:20there's always been a strong bipartisan support for foreign assistance programs.

01:24Now, you ask the average person in the street, in Illinois or Oklahoma,

01:29how much, what percentage of the federal budget do you believe is spent on foreign aid?

01:35The guesses are usually 10 to 20 percent.

01:37It's less than 1 percent.

01:40There was an understanding that modest efforts like those

01:42that cost just over 1 percent of the federal budget

01:45were the right thing to do by both political parties.

01:49You see, by helping stem pandemics and war

01:51and helping countries become healthy, free market democracies,

01:56we're actually helping our own country.

01:59We're stopping wars and upheavals before they start

02:02and spill over borders,

02:04alleviating the future need to send our troops into harm's way

02:08and strengthening our own national security at home

02:11by mitigating instability around the world.

02:14We are creating allies in the process

02:17and trading partners for U.S. farmers

02:19and other American businesses that make for good jobs here at home.

02:24We're also demonstrating the best of America

02:27when it comes to our values,

02:29compassion, and ingenuity,

02:32something President George W. Bush understood

02:34when he created PEPFAR,

02:36which has saved millions of lives around the world from HIV and AIDS.

02:40That's why Ronald Reagan and John McCain,

02:44no pushovers,

02:46understood the incredible power and strategic value

02:49of helping countries across the globe

02:51become free, democratic, and prosperous.

02:54So why in the world would we cut such low-cost but impactful programs?

02:59I don't understand it.

03:02If there were international programs that were ineffective,

03:05and I admit such work can be difficult and with mistakes,

03:08then the place to fix them is through the regular appropriations process,

03:13not the wholesale gutting of a complete program like USAID.

03:17And a word on equally short-sighted proposed cuts to public broadcasting.

03:21While President Trump claims that eliminating funding for public media

03:25will end PBS and NPR's so-called woke agenda,

03:31I can't even define that for you,

03:32but that is a reason given,

03:34he fails to understand that more than 70% of this funding

03:39goes to local public media stations.

03:43I think people in central Illinois, where my home is,

03:46would be hard-pressed to even explain to you

03:48what a woke agenda is on national public radio.

03:51And in rural communities,

03:54these publicly funded news stations are often the only place

03:57to get good up-to-the-minute information

04:00and to have the kind of warnings that are necessary

04:04when extreme weather is on the way.

04:07They provide local news coverage,

04:09educational programming, and emergency weather alerts.

04:14Without public broadcasting,

04:16how will people in Kansas and Texas learn of the tornado alerts?

04:20How will children who lack access to preschool in Idaho or South Dakota

04:25be able to receive education before kindergarten?

04:29These cuts make no sense.

04:31And I call on my Republican colleagues in a bipartisan fashion

04:35to look at the impact they're going to have objectively across America.

04:39Mr. President, on a different topic,

04:42I want to say a few words about the tragic war in Gaza.

04:45There has been so much suffering, so much death, so much destruction.

04:50The Hamas attacks on Israel of October 7, 2023,

04:54and the taking of hostages, with some 20 or 30 still left in captivity,

04:59left a stunned and grieving Israel with a difficult decision.

05:02From the start, I urged Israel to learn from our mistakes in the United States

05:07that we made in anger after the terrible attacks of September 11th.

05:13We shouldn't make these life-and-death decisions.

05:15We've learned in the fury of emotion.

05:18But I fear that lesson was not followed,

05:21and the near-total destruction of Gaza and humanitarian suffering

05:24will be seen as a terrible mistake,

05:26mistakes that cause generations of pain

05:29and hurt Israel's ultimate relationship with its allies and its future.

05:34Late last year, after more than a year of horror in this small strip of land,

05:39I thought we were finally seeing some progress

05:41toward the release of the remaining hostages,

05:44a long-term ceasefire,

05:46and an easing of the humanitarian crisis.

05:49There's been a growing public demonstration from Gazans

05:51bravely protesting for an end to the rule of Hamas.

05:55That's good news.

05:57These protesters face serious threats and risk of arrest by Hamas,

06:01but they still do it,

06:02knowing Hamas has to go

06:04and does not have the people's interest at heart in Gaza.

06:07But instead of building on these modest but important openings,

06:11Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu

06:12continues to put his own political survival ahead of everything.

06:17Instead of a more surgical response to Hamas

06:19or offering a long-term vision for Gaza

06:22under a reformed Palestinian leadership,

06:25Netanyahu offers nothing.

06:27He blocked all aid to Gaza for three months

06:30with experts warning of mass starvation,

06:34and he restarted the fighting with no short or long-term strategy.

06:38The only strategy is to keep his coalition, Israel, intact.

06:43Netanyahu knows his coalition won't stand for any kind of two-state solution,

06:46so he avoids this viable path.

06:50Instead, threatening untold innocent lies

06:52by blocking and undermining aid delivery

06:54and restarting a dubious military offensive.

06:58Key allies in the new Pope, Pope Leo,

07:01continue to make appeals to allow aid to flow into Gaza

07:04before the famine and starvation takes hold completely.

07:08Just the other day, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said,

07:13and I quote,

07:14The government of Israel is currently waging a war without purpose,

07:18without goals or clear planning,

07:21and with no chance of success.

07:23Those are the words of former Israeli Prime Minister Olmert.

07:26I implore our Israeli allies to pursue a renewed ceasefire

07:30that sees the release of all remaining hostages,

07:34allows sufficient aid to flow,

07:36and advances a serious post-war vision for two states.

07:40Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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