GOP Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida is introducing the Big Biden Blunder Act, a bill that would demand accountability from the Biden administration concerning the botched withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in August 2021.
He stated, “We need answers and accountability NOW because Biden’s promise to Build Back Better has resulted in nothing more than a Big Biden Blunder.”
This debacle NEVER should have happened and has only emboldened the worst fantasies of our hegemonic adversaries.
We need answers and accountability NOW because Biden’s promise to Build Back Better has resulted in nothing more than a Big Biden Blunder.https://t.co/1dVYWrUtmh
— Congressman Byron Donalds (@RepDonaldsPress) April 19, 2023
According to a discussion draft of the bill provided by Fox News, the BBB would “direct the Comptroller General of the United States to deliver a report on the economic effects of the withdrawal of the United States Armed Forces from Afghanistan, and for other purposes.”
Part of the economic impact of the botched withdrawal that Donalds wants to highlight with the bill is the effect that abandoning billions of dollars worth of military equipment had on the U.S. economy.
While estimates range anywhere from $7 billion to more than $80 billion worth of military equipment was abandoned, no matter the number, leaving equipment like that behind has had an effect on the economy.
The second part of the BBB, according to that discussion draft is a “request for President to transmit a statement about the relationship between equipment abandoned in Afghanistan and inflation.”
In addition to the economic impact of the withdrawal, the way in which the world views America and the U.S. military was affected as well.
“The Biden administration’s disastrous, hasty, and poorly executed withdrawal from Afghanistan has left a permanent stain on our nation’s military prestige,” Donalds told Fox News in a statement.
“Thirteen dead U.S. servicemembers, over $85 billion of military equipment and hundreds of Americans left behind, coupled with the images of desperate individuals falling to their deaths from the wings of American aircraft, will forever haunt and tarnish the Biden administration’s foreign policy agenda.”
The announcement of the BBB comes at the same time that House Committee on Oversight and Accountability begins its hearing on the botched withdrawal.
“Let me be clear, I was in favor of leaving Afghanistan, but it should never have been done like this.”
Today, the Taliban flag flies over Kabul. This is Joe Biden’s legacy.
@RepJamesComer opens hearing with a rebuke of Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. pic.twitter.com/v4BEd4zqhQ— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) April 19, 2023
Republican James Comer, the chair of the committee, said, “President Biden and his Administration’s decisions during the Afghanistan withdrawal led to the deaths of 13 servicemembers, left Americans completely stranded, allowed U.S. military equipment to fall into Taliban hands, jeopardized progress made by Afghan women, and destabilized the entire region.
“This Administration not only continues to provide excuses for the self-inflicted humanitarian and national security catastrophe, but senior officials are actively obstructing meaningful congressional oversight…I look forward to their testimony as we work to hold this Administration accountable and get Americans’ answers.”
Politicians like Comer, Donalds and the numerous co-sponsors of the BBB are ensuring that Biden and his administration are held accountable for what happened.
In the words of Donalds from the one-year anniversary of the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, “The haphazard exit from Afghanistan will go down in U.S. history as one of the most damaging and amateurish military and foreign policy endeavors in our treasured history. This stain was not at the hands of the brave foot soldiers but the bureaucratic-military brass in Washington, but more importantly, President Joseph R. Biden.”
To date, the Biden administration has not yet taken responsibility for nor admitted mistakes in the withdrawal of the troops and this legislation along with the hearing should do exactly that.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.