WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Jamie Raskin (MD-08) released the following statement after voting against H.R. 7006, the Financial Services and General Government and National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act:

"President Trump and MAGA in Congress have taken a wrecking ball to America’s foreign policy and diplomatic standing, destroying our humanitarian work all over the world and turning our government into his personal Gangster State.  

"Although I am grateful to my heroic Democratic colleagues on the Appropriations Committee who have done everything in their power to strip the most toxic poison pills from this legislation, the resulting bill effectively codifies the wholesale lawless destruction of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), whose systematic demolition has already led to thousands of preventable deaths around the world. Many of my constituents who had dedicated their lives to delivering humanitarian aid have lost their careers and their livelihoods to this wrecking ball, and I cannot bring myself to vote for the final destruction of USAID.

"In all, H.R. 7006 cuts $9.3 billion across all of our national security, state department and foreign assistance programs and $3.2 billion in humanitarian assistance, a gift of self-destruction for our values which benefits only our authoritarian adversaries like Russia and North Korea while punishing our allies and the most vulnerable people in the world.

"Meantime, here at home, H.R. 7006 codifies $1.1 billion in cuts to the Internal Revenue Service, including an outrageous 8% cut to tax enforcement to allow more billionaires to escape paying the taxes they owe, leaving middle-class Americans again to pick up the tab. 

"H.R. 7006 makes our world, and therefore, our nation and our people less safe.  

"I voted against it with the fervent hope—and commitment—that we will put Congress and the government back soon on a course of common sense and common good."

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