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Floor Speech

I also want to acknowledge my appreciation for the service of the Senator from Montana and his wife in protecting us against terrorist activity.

That objective I support.

What I don't support is a bill that is written in a way where aid and humanitarian organizations that are spending money they raise to do work we support--and that is to protect women and children who are subject to the vicious conduct of the Taliban--that they will be cut off from being able to do their work.

The reality is, for some of these NGOs, if they have to pay an electric bill, then the bill, as drafted, would mean they are not able to do their work.

So when you have an aid organization that is dedicated to trying to help girls and women from the oppression, who are from the Afghan people, who are the victims of the Taliban authoritarianism, and even paying an electric utility bill, even paying a water bill would mean that organization is shut down and can't do the good work that I believe the majority of us, if not all of us, in the Senate would support--because our concern is the well-being of the people of Afghanistan, and our objection is to the authoritarian and violent rule of the Taliban.

So this bill, as drafted, would interfere with legitimate work that would do good for the people in Afghanistan, especially women and girls, who are the victims of the Taliban. Our government is not sending money to the Taliban. That was discontinued under President Trump.

Our government is not sending money to American NGOs or NGOs in governments that are our allies. So what this bill is doing is trying to ensure that money that is sent to help Afghan women and children and other vulnerable people is not siphoned off to indirectly support the Taliban. That is a worthy objective, but it is overly broad in how it is written.

So it would literally mean that NGOs that are doing work that we support can't be done. And for that reason, I do object.

You know, we have got to keep in mind that the Taliban is our adversary, but there are over 3 million Afghans who have lost access to health services.

There are many Afghans who served with our military and to whom we owe a debt of gratitude. They saved, in many cases, the lives of men and women who served in the military. And among the people who have been the biggest advocates for the Afghan people, as opposed to the Taliban, are many of our brave soldiers who have served in Afghanistan.

So the objection here is based on how the bill is written, how it is overly broad and will have the effect of stopping good work that does good things for oppressed people. That is the reason that I want to assert my objection to this legislation.

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