Senator Ben Sasse (R., Nevada) and Senator Chris Murphy (D., Connecticut) were involved in an angry exchange on the Senate floor of Congress on Thursday.
It began with a speech by Sas, where he voted against the $ 1.5 trillion omnibus package, including $ 13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine, a tweet from Murphy aimed at Senator Nebraska, among other Republicans. Mentioned.
Mr. Sas complained about the fact that the bill to provide emergency assistance to Ukraine was not passed immediately by itself instead of working on a huge comprehensive bill last week, and justified his vote based on it. did.
“We spent $ 13 billion on Ukraine’s aid out of a total budget package of $ 1.5 trillion, so for those doing math at home, it’s 1% of what passed midnight last week. It was less than, and was actually Ukrainian aid, “Sas explained.
“Ukraine’s aid was just a little sugar in a bigger drug than a $ 1.5 trillion invoice,” he added.
According to Sas, Murphy’s implications that the Republicans had registered opposition to aid in a large bill represented an attempt to “bully the other side.”
Taking Murphy’s tweet as a prime example, Sas continued to blame politicians for providing fan service to a small part of the masses to harm the American people and their governing bodies. He described the purpose of the speech as “allowing liars to lie constantly, and if they can escape it, they just keep doing it.”
Murphy accused him of “tribal hackery” on a chart that stood beside him when he gave his speech, and Republicans often complained that he “failed to vote in a consistent way.” Saying, wondering aloud whether Sas broke the Senate rules and began responding in their voice. “
He called the vote against the omnibus “concerned” while the Republicans criticized the Biden administration for not doing enough for Ukraine. “Good” in Senate culture.
Sas jumped in to ask Murphy a question directly. “Do you believe those who voted against it? [the omnibus bill]Did they vote against Ukraine’s aid because they opposed it? “
“Each of us is approaching the big one,” Murphy replied before being cut off.
“I’m asking a really simple question,” Sas said. “Do you think the one person who was the subject of your Twitter self-satisfaction was the one who voted against Ukrainian aid?”
“Never,” Murphy said.
“So what’s the point of tweeting?” Sas asked.
Murphy reiterated his claim that the institution did not have enough compromises.
At that point, Sas divided the debate into three issues: Ukrainian aid, the budget process, and the epic. He argued that the real conflict between Murphy and himself was third, and that “the republic was weakened” as a result of a misleading tweet by Senator Connecticut.
“I find it convenient for Republicans to consistently persuade the president’s actions, but I’m not willing to cast the difficult votes needed to help the president implement policies there,” Murphy said. How the Senate was able to fund Ukraine.
Sas called passing an omnibus or not sending aid to Ukraine a “wrong choice”, and Murphy defended it by saying that there were endless other options, but that was the table option. Given the fact, the choice of suspension was “convenient”. He agreed that the budget process was dysfunctional. Murphy didn’t apologize for the tweet, but said in the future, “I’ll take Senator’s words seriously and try to pull it up in a constructive way.”
Sas reaffirms his frustration with the budget process, agreeing that there are magnificent positions rampant on both sides of the partisan aisle, and that the Biden administration is willing to spend money on Ukrainian aid. By doing so, the exchange was closed.
The bitter debate between the two senators, contrary to the rules of the Senate, served as a direct transfer for most of the period.