'This Not A Democrats Versus Republicans Question': Jon Ossoff Blasts GOP Over Rescissions Package

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During a Senate Appropriations Committee markup on Thursday, Sen. Jon Ossoff spoke in favor of an amendment to an appropriations bill which would prevent it from being subject to rescissions.

Transcript

00:00Madam Chair. I'm sorry, who was seeking? Madam Chair. Senator Ossoff. Yeah, I want to encourage

00:10us to slow down for a second and take a deep breath before we vote here, because this debate

00:16is devolving into a partisan one. And this is not, the question of this amendment is not actually a

00:22question of Democrats versus Republicans. This is a conflict between the Senate Appropriations

00:29Committee, whoever runs it, and the Budget Office and the Executive Branch, whoever runs it. And this

00:38is a pretty significant vote. Not about how funds are spent, but about who decides who has the power

00:50of the purse. The question here is, if we appropriate funds on the floor with 60 votes,

00:59can those funds then be pulled back with 50? And what we saw last night, and it wouldn't matter

01:08whether the Trump administration did it, if the tables were turned and a Democratic administration

01:14had done that, then I think this conversation would be happening right now precisely inverted.

01:23This is not a Democrats versus Republicans question. The question is,

01:28are we going to defend the power of the purse in the Congress? What we saw last night was,

01:34again, even when senators objected to the rescissions, the nature of the politics was such that

01:41they couldn't be defeated. If we appropriate funds with 60 votes, it should take 60 votes to rescind the

01:47funds. And that's what Senator Merkley's amendment does. So rather than like suiting up shirts and

01:53skins here and getting into the culture war stuff, let's really think carefully. This is an important

02:00vote. This is an opportunity for this committee to assert itself. Senator McConaughey.

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