By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves says Congress has a lot of work ahead as it wraps up an old year and looks toward a new year.
Graves, a Republican, says House Republicans will accept a funding package to provide military aid for both Ukraine and Israel as long as President Joe Biden agrees to increase security along the southern border.
“You know, everybody starts beating their chests in the beginning of the process and then they back up and start taking a look and you start going back and forth,” Graves tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “At least, that’s the way I do compromises. And then ultimately you get to the really hard stuff, you work out the differences, and you come up with something that everybody can live with.”
President Biden has requested $110 billion in aid for Ukraine and Israel. Republicans have insisted the president include increased security at the southern border to cut down on an increased flow of illegal immigrants into the country. Negotiations have bogged down and likely will drag on into the new year.
Hanging over all the work ahead in the new year is the impeachment inquiry against President Biden launched by the House. Graves voted with his fellow Republicans in a party-line vote to launched the inquiry.
“The inquiry is just that. It allows for an investigation to see if there was wrongdoing,” Graves says. “And you have to have a formal impeachment inquiry vote to be able to move forward with an investigation. So, if there’s something there, they’ re going to find it. If there’s nothing there, then we will find that out, too. We need to know. The American people need to know. So that’s what the purpose of the inquiry is.”
House Republicans have been holding hearings on the business dealings of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and whether the president used his influence during his time as vice president to help his son as well as benefit from Hunter’s business dealings.
Graves says the inquiry gives the House the tools it needs to review the president’s role in his son Hunter’s business dealings overseas.
“This isn’t an impeachment. This is an impeachment inquiry,” Graves insists. “So, it opens the investigation. Nothing has been decided, yet and they’ll take a look at that evidence first.”
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