Policy Rider Blocking Mueller Investigation Must Be Removed From Budget Legislation
Aug. 29, 2017
Policy Rider Blocking Mueller Investigation Must Be Removed From Budget Legislation
Statement of Lisa Gilbert, Vice President of Legislative Affairs, Public Citizen
Note: U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) has added a policy rider to an appropriations bill that would stop funding for the special counsel’s Russia investigation 180 days after becoming law and prevent Special Counsel Robert Mueller from probing matters that occurred prior to June 2015, the month Donald Trump announced his presidential bid.
The appropriations process is supposed to be about funding our government, not covering up President Donald Trump’s suspected collusion with Russia.
It is wildly inappropriate of DeSantis to attempt to use the funding process to limit the desperately needed investigation into possible collusion with Russia by the Trump campaign. Special Counsel Robert Mueller needs to be free to investigate any matter that might be pertinent to the issues of election hacking, obstruction and Trump’s financial ties with Russia. Denying Mueller needed funds in a poison pill rider tacked hastily onto the appropriations package is shocking. Ideological riders have no place in must-pass spending bills, and the Russia investigation is critical for protecting our democracy. This double whammy attack on our democratic norms is appalling.
###