Representative Ryan Zinke (R-MT) blasted the Democratic Party for holding up funding for troops to get more money for the IRS, saying “to think President Obama still has no strategy to defeat and destroy ISIS, yet his party has a strategy to get more money for the IRS” during Saturday’s GOP Weekly Address.
Transcript as Follows:
“Good morning. My name is Ryan Zinke. I’m proud to hail from the great state of Montana and humbled to be the first Navy SEAL to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.
I was a SEAL for 23 years, but these days, I’m a military dad. Our daughter is a Navy diver, our son-in-law is an active duty SEAL. I take our constitutional duty to provide for the common defense seriously and personally.
So you can imagine how I felt when Senator Harry Reid said recently that supporting a bill to help our troops was a ‘waste of time’.
He was talking about a plan that provides the resources for critical medical supplies, food, body armor, and ammunition. This plan also gives our troops a pay raise. A raise that I think we can all agree they’ve earned. But because President Obama threatened to veto the bill, Senator Harry Reid thought it was all a ‘waste of time.’
You’re probably wondering ‘why would the president threaten to veto a bill supporting our troops?’ Well it actually has nothing to do with national security.
You see, the president and his party want more money for big government agencies like the IRS and the EPA. And in order to get it, they plan to hold our troops hostage. I’m afraid there’s more.
Not only are Democrats set in blocking a pay raise for our troops, but if they don’t get more money for the IRS and EPA, they intend to shut down the entire federal government.
Taking care of our troops should be our top priority, but it isn’t on the Democrats’ to-do list right now. They’ve lost sight of American values in favor of Washington politics. To think President Obama still has no strategy to defeat and destroy ISIS, yet his party has a strategy to get more money for the IRS.
I’ve been to war. I know the consequences and sacrifice it takes. If we must fight, we fight to win. We need to make sure our troops have the right equipment, the right training, and the rules of engagement to win decisively on the field of battle. And when we send our troops to war, we need a plan to make sure we bring them home safely.
Making sure our men and women are safe on the battlefield and are well taken care of when they get home, that’s the least we can do.
No price can be attached to the sacrifices of the men and women in uniform are willing to make.
Members of the President’s party have lost sight of this. They will actually vote against our troops and try to win more money for their Washington bureaucracies. How can they explain that at a 4th of July parade or military ceremony? That’s what I’d like to know.
Mr. President, I appeal to you as Commander-in-Chief to stop this game your party is playing with our national security. It’s dangerous and it’s wrong. Do the right thing. Help give our troops the resources they need and the pay they deserve.
God bless America, and God bless the men and women who defend her.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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