Comm-Link:Congress Now - Senator Polo Unveils Bill

UEE CONGRESS (396)

2945-02-24 SET

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2945-02-24_14:07 – Session Begins

SPEAKER MARSHALL MADRIGAL (U-Borea-Magnus Sys): Ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, if you will please take your seats, we will continue.

SPEAKER MARSHALL MADRIGAL (U-Borea-Magnus Sys): We have a quorum and may reconvene. Senator Nayar, you have the floor.

SENATOR RASHMI NAYAR (C-Noble-Ellis Sys): Thank you, Speaker. I shall yield the remaining allotment of my time, but, in summation, I know critics of this motion have said that reopening the Educational Equivalency Imperial Funding system in order to stop “anomalies of abuse” is unnecessary, that exploitation can be discovered by a more thorough investigative process. Now I could continue to cite how the education budget is already stretched too thin to justify the amount of investigative oversight proposed to catch these ‘anomalies,’ I could even go over prospective solutions and exactly what line-item they would apply to, but I just want to say that the EEIF was established to help educate our children. Let’s do everything in our power to make sure that these grants are going to the right place, to help the schools that truly need it. Thank you.

SPEAKER MARSHALL MADRIGAL (U-Borea-Magnus Sys): Thank you, Senator Nayar. We will schedule discussion and voting of your motion in eight days. I would now like to open the floor. Should anyone have new legislation, please rise and be heard.

SPEAKER MARSHALL MADRIGAL (U-Borea-Magnus Sys): The Speaker recognizes the honorable Senator from Angeli.

SENATOR KYLE POLO (U-Angeli-Croshaw Sys): Thank you, Speaker. Ladies and gentlemen. To continue on a theme my illustrious predecessor referenced, our Empire is on uncertain ground. Our future is tenuous as economic concerns govern every step that we take. Life is about hard choices. People use phrases like “in a perfect world …” or “it will all work out in the end.” Beautiful ideals to strive for, sure … but it’s not a perfect world and things don’t work out in the end, so we have to make choices, we have to sacrifice. We have to ask the hard questions and accept real consequences. Our government has been acting like we are living in this perfect world. That the financial responsibilities will somehow miraculously sort themselves out if we just keep on the path we’ve been travelling. But it won’t. Esteemed Senators, we are headed for a total collapse of our infrastructure if we do not correct our course now. Not tomorrow. Not next month. Now. Attempts have been made, sure. Article 416 and the Von Bello Act tried to alleviate the strain, but, in the end, they weren’t enough, but there’s one branch that hasn’t been included in this intense scrutiny of spending. The UEE military has been operating with budgetary impunity while the rest of the Empire has been bleeding.

SENATOR TARYN GLASI (C-Vosca-Elysium Sys): Mr Speaker …

SPEAKER MARSHALL MADRIGAL (U-Borea-Magnus Sys): You have not been recognized, Senator.

SENATOR TARYN GLASI (C-Vosca-Elysium Sys): We don’t have to listen to this, do we?

SENATOR KYLE POLO (U-Angeli-Croshaw Sys): Military R&D departments have actually been charting an increase in funding while public works on Ferron have almost gone back a hundred years. We are past due for the military to shoulder the weight of these cutbacks. The High Command has justified this continued expenditure because there are threats out there. But this isn’t a perfect world. There will always be threats to the Empire. So now, we’re back to the question of choice, of sacrifice. I have drafted a bill that will force High Command to ask these questions, the questions that the rest of us have been forced to grapple with for years. If approved, they will need to cut ten percent of their overall budget —

SENATOR TARYN GLASI (C-Vosca-Elysium Sys): Ten percent?!

SENATOR KYLE POLO (U-Angeli-Croshaw Sys): Ten percent of their overall budget to help bring their spending back in line.

SENATOR TARYN GLASI (C-Vosca-Elysium Sys): Where is that ten percent going to come from, Senator? I assume it won’t be taken out of the patrols guarding your planet, so presumably my system will be on the chopping block.

SENATOR KYLE POLO (U-Angeli-Croshaw Sys): It will come out of wherever it isn’t most needed. I take no joy in this proposal, Senator. I am simply fulfilling my promise taken on this very floor over a year ago to take a pragmatic and unflinching look at how we can possibly expect to maintain the progress of our Empire, and this is the only solution that a rational and honest person would come to.

SPEAKER MARSHALL MADRIGAL (U-Borea-Magnus Sys): Senator Polo, a question.

SENATOR KYLE POLO (U-Angeli-Croshaw Sys): Of course, Speaker.

SPEAKER MARSHALL MADRIGAL (U-Borea-Magnus Sys): You said that High Command will be forced to make these cuts.

SENATOR KYLE POLO (U-Angeli-Croshaw Sys): That is correct, Speaker.

SPEAKER MARSHALL MADRIGAL (U-Borea-Magnus Sys): And if they can’t?

SENATOR KYLE POLO (U-Angeli-Croshaw Sys): Then, by provision, we will set up a select subcommittee of economic strategists, military advisors and Senators to make the cuts for them.

SPEAKER MARSHALL MADRIGAL (U-Borea-Magnus Sys): Order! Sit down or I will be forced to —

SPEAKER MARSHALL MADRIGAL (U-Borea-Magnus Sys): This session is in recess until such a time when the Senate can manage to relocate their decorum.

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