Rep Wagner says "Pausing" Bombs in Gaza threatens American daycares
US Rep claims Military Industrial Complex is so inextricably tied to US economy that even a superficial "pause" will destroy contractors' employees' ability to pay mortgages, cars, & daycare
Watch this 2 minute speech (below) arguing that we must buy more bombs so American workers can pay their mortgages, car payments, and daycare costs.
Quote:
Have any divisions within State conducted and any economic analysis to the measure and the impact of potential even job losses and furlows because of your decision to pause this pending arm sale? And if not, why not? Because you know what, sir, my constituents in St. Louis greater metropolitan area ... this whole region, they rely on these jobs to pay for their mortgages, their car payments, the daycare costs and they can't afford to lose their jobs to support this partisan stall tactic. They're sitting in a warehouse 6,500 of them ..
Source: Reuters
Congressional Representation:
Congresspeople are the “Relationship Managers” of the Military Industrial Complex
Unexpected Sales Schedule?
What would happen to American workers if two wars were concluded early, before new wars could be procured?
Worker Precarity — Expanding as Intended.
The system is working as intended when a large portion of the public’s fate is inextricably tied to the MICIMATT
“The Precariat”
In sociology and economics, the precariat (/prɪˈkɛəriət/) is a neologism for a social class formed by people suffering from precarity, which means existing without predictability or security, affecting material or psychological welfare. The term is a portmanteau merging precarious with proletariat. (Wikipedia).
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The Military Industrial Complex Song:
What is the MICIMATT?
Military | Industrial | Congressional | Intelligence | Media | Academia | Think Tank
The “MICIMATT” refers to the powerful network of persons and institutions with convergent interests enabling a militaristic US foreign policy to impose US liberal hegemony on the world.
In short: American elites control the world.
Read More: The MIC has become the MICIMATT
More Clips:
Clip 2: “Sales Rep” for JDAM bombs (Joint Direct Attack Munition)
I'm sure you're familiar with them these are the high position GPS oriented uh if you want the least amount of collateral damage in an urban area you want a JDAM! And we have sent out tons of them to Israel and everywhere else they also just happened to be made uh in uh in the St Louis metropolitan area in St Charles in my district
Clip 3: “Limited Time. Buy Now!”
Transcript (Extended Context):
Committee will suspend while the capital police restores order.
The Gentleman yields.
The chair recognizes Ms. Wagner. I thank the the chairman and and I thank you, secretary Lincoln, for your service I know this is tough tough time for for all of us but sir this Administration is waffling first in Afghanistan and today shockingly to me in Israel has created instability on a massive scale. Secretary Blinken, the world as we've all discussed here is on fire and conflicts have engulfed Europe and the Middle East emboldening every single dictator from Putin to XI to Khameni to attack us allies and interests the administration's decision to withhold weapon sales and deliveries to Israels in a during a time of war Sir and just weeks after Iran launched unprecedented missiles up to upwards of 350 um Cruise ballistic missiles drones attacked on Israel directly directly from Iranian soil is nothing less than a betrayal of our Ally. It is foreign policy malpractice and I guarantee you that Iran and Russia and China are watching the United States turn its back on its most important Middle Eastern Ally. Secretary Blinken on May 7th I sent you a letter asking for a full accounting of the weapon sales and deliveries to Israel the administration is delaying. I want to focus right now very specifically sir uh uh in particular on the delay of the sale of 6,500 JDAMS I'm sure you're familiar with them these are the high position GPS oriented uh if you want the least amount of collateral damage in an urban area you want a JDAM and we have sent out tons of them to Israel and everywhere else they also just happened to be made in the St Louis metropolitan area in St Charles in my my district and since I have not yet received a response to the let me ask you why this why has the administration failed to move forward with the notification process for the sale of 6,500 jams to Israel and when will the administration resume the notification process uh first and I'll respond to your question directly um first when Iran launched that unprecedented attack that you referred to on Israel for the first time ever the United States actively participated in is that's right noticed and and is limited time, sir, Please buy JDAMS there are a number of different um sale proposals that are in different places at different points in the process this has been months and months and months and we sent them to them in the past Congress Congress right now is still reviewing a JDAM sale that it hasn't that we sent forward what specific issues remain outstanding for the review we are we follow we follow the process and we've gone out of our way to pre notify Congress what bu object to the sale it's not a question of objecting we want to we want to follow the process and make sure we move please because it is truly been months and months and months will you commit to bringing your personal engagement to ensure the process for this specific case moves expeditiously we're going to make sure that all of the cases move including including this one have any divisions within State conducted and any economic analysis to the measure and the impact of potential even job losses and furlows because of your decision to pause this pending arm sale and and if not why not because you know what sir my constituents in St Louis greater metropolitan area they they were this whole region they rely on these jobs to pay for their mortgages their car payments uh the daycare costs and they can't afford to lose their jobs to support this partisan stall tactic they're sitting in a warehouse 6,500 of them there there there is no pause and as I said uh in many cases in in including this one we have previewed uh with Congress which we're not at all uh obligated to do sales that we were contemplating and had not yet us to tell this this we we read about this in Axios The Wall Street Journal and CNN armed sales to trusted Partners like Israel, Taiwan, and NATO allies are a critical component of our national security are are you concerned that delaying sales to Israel will diminish our credibility as the arsenal of democracy again uh we're we're we're following the process and I again I invite you to look the process has taken too darn long and and they've been sitting there for months and no one's explaining what's holding them up um but uh but you all they've been signed off on I mean the United States sir has obligations to our friends and allies including Israel and our unshakable commitment to Israel's Securities is clearly laid out in the 2016 mou uh that Congress has fully funded every year since it was signed and and Joe Biden was the one who got and when we honor our obligations the world is a safer place but when the United States fails to keep its promises and the commit commitments the US is now failing to keep its promise to Israel we are telling our enemies that we are unreliable and IR irresolute partners that is incredibly damaging to Global Security and the administration needs the to to write this ship and fully restore US security assistance to Israel my time has expired and I yield back J yields to recognizes Miss Titus thank you Mr chairman Mr secretary uh as you know I represent Las Vegas and we have an economy that's pretty uniquely dependent on tourism just last year we had 359,000 jobs in tourism 20 billion dollars in wages and almost $80 billion do in overall economic uh input but the excessive wait times for visas are really hurting communities like mine that the different um US Consular post around the world and just to put this in perspective the World Cup is coming to the Americas in 2026 it's expected to attract 8 million International visitors some we think will come to Las Vegas from Southern California tickets go on sale December 2025 but in many countries the wait time for getting a Visa may make it already too late in Mumbai the next available interview is October 2025 just two months before tickets go on sale in bogat it's Fe February 2026 nearly two months after they go on sale and in Mexico City it's already too late the available interview is in August 2026 which is a month after the World Cup is over now I know y'all have been making progress lowering weight times you have a expanded interview waiver authority but what about the people who haven't been here before and I think this problem is not only hurting us economically but it's part of our soft power and our cultural diplomacy so could you talk a little bit about how we can address this problem if you need additional resources what the situation is no very very much agree with you we're intensely focused on this uh in in FY 23 we uh issued more non-immigrant visas by over 20% than we did before the pandemic which is when we started to have real challenges with both visas uh outside of the country passports inside of the country uh and we have reduced now interview times
(Transcript generated by YouTube, minor edits and punctuation by Tim Langeman)
Cover Image: US Department of Agriculture, public domain.