Beyer To Oppose Appropriations Minibus

Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA), who represents a Northern Virginia congressional district with one of the largest concentrations of federal workers and contractors in the U.S. House, today announced his opposition to H.R. 7006, the Financial Services and General Government and National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act.

Beyer led congressional opposition to the Trump Administration's illegal destruction of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). His district includes major State Department facilities, and is home to civil servants from numerous federal agencies including hundreds of workers who lost their jobs last year at USAID.

Beyer said:

"I cannot support or fund a status quo that accepts Donald Trump and Elon Musk's destruction of USAID. I continue to believe that was an illegal, immoral, and illegitimate act. It was a major disaster for my constituents and the region, and it also failed to save taxpayers money as promised. Meanwhile our warnings that destroying USAID would lead to preventable deaths around the world and damage relations with developing nations sadly have already come to pass.

"The bill also fails to constrain an erratic, out-of-control president increasingly bent on illegal military actions. Trump's abject stupidity regarding possible military actions in Greenland, Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, and elsewhere in the wake of the unconstitutional attack on Venezuela does not have the support of the American people, and Congress must act to stop it.

"While I appreciate and support the important work my appropriator colleagues have done to improve this bill by stripping Republican poison pills from it, I believe Congress must do more to stand up to this corrupt, lawless president. I will vote no."

Beyer previously served in the State Department as a U.S. Ambassador during the Obama Administration.