GOP Lawmaker's Bafflingly 'Stupid’ Argument Against Humanitarian Aid Stuns Critics
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Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) offered head-scratching logic on Thursday when she argued that the U.S. shouldn’t provide humanitarian aid to women and children in Afghanistan because it’s not mentioned in the Constitution.
Luna delivered the baffling line of reasoning during House debate over an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would gut funding for Afghan aid.
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who introduced the amendment, argued the funding could be supporting the brutal Taliban regime.
Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) voiced “strong opposition” to the measure, noting that it “ties the administration’s hands in how it can best support the people of Afghanistan living under Taliban rule.”
“It prohibits the use of any funds authorized via this bill to be used, even tangentially, to aid in our support of the millions of Afghan women and girls suffering under Taliban rule,” she said, “or to those Afghans living in poverty and in need of humanitarian relief.”
Luna: I couldn't help but pull out my pocket constitution and couldn't find anywhere where it says we need to fund programs for humanitarian aid for women and children in Afghanistan.
Kamlager-Dove: The text is not in the constitution, it’s in the bill pic.twitter.com/BfqGpx5QJl— Acyn (@Acyn) July 14, 2023
Following Kamlager-Dove’s fiery pushback, Luna offered her two cents.
“I couldn’t help but pull out my pocket Constitution, and I couldn’t seem to find anywhere in here where it says we need to fund programs for humanitarian aid for women and children in Afghanistan,” Luna said. “So with that, I just wanted to point that out and I yield my time.”
Kamlager-Dove had only a brief response: “The text is not in the Constitution. It’s in the bill.”
Social media users pointed out a bunch of other stuff that’s not in the Constitution:
Nowhere in the Constitution does it says we should oppose the Nazis in WWII. What a stupid comment. https://t.co/Hne1rhqpB6
— Robert Shrum (@BobShrum) July 14, 2023
There’s nothing in the Bible about trans people or guns, but that’s never stopped Republicans from citing it. https://t.co/qrN3VfdgK9
— Hemant Mehta (@hemantmehta) July 14, 2023
So we only do things in the Constitution? What makes her especially shitty is that she’s a veteran. So many of our brothers and sisters agonize over the plight of our Afghan allies and Luna just shits all over them. https://t.co/2G1h0cRsLo
— Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) July 14, 2023
There’s nothing in the constitution about confederate monuments either. https://t.co/uegKUsgp4T
— James DeSarno (@j_desarno) July 14, 2023
doesn't say anything about cars either so I guess they should all be illegal https://t.co/KNXjUUOeXI
— russ bengtson (@russbengtson) July 14, 2023
House Republicans are the dumbest, most unserious people in America right now lol like wtf is this argument? Football isn’t in the constitution either, should we go ahead and just cancel football then? This person is either dumber than dirt or acting in bad faith. https://t.co/qYPiv2XBqe
— Max (@mash2k22) July 14, 2023
They are having a stupidity contest and the competition is fierce. https://t.co/TqImBPZirx
— Kim Masters (@kimmasters) July 14, 2023
Would you expect anything less from the party that bans books?
— 𝙎𝙋𝙊𝙊𝙆𝙔 𝙁𝙊𝙍𝘾𝙀 𝙁𝙍𝘼𝙉𝘾𝙄𝙎🌻🇺🇸 (@FrancisWegner) July 14, 2023
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
— Martin Luther King, Jr. https://t.co/TwYCMpucey— QuoteDigger (@QuoteDigging) July 14, 2023