After standing together to defeat (via filibuster) the Lankford – Biden – Schumer open borders bill 17 members of the Senate GOP Conference reverted to kind and joined Democrats in advancing a massive foreign aid package that secures the borders of Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, but does nothing to force Joe Biden and his open borders Department
of Homeland Security to secure our own border.
Voting with Democrats were Republican Senators Capito, Cassidy, Collins, Cornyn, Ernst, Grassley, Kennedy, McConnell, Moran, Murkowski, Romney, Rounds, Sullivan, Thune, Tillis, Wicker, Young.
Several of these Republican Senators who are generally spending hawks, especially Senators Grassley and Kennedy, should have known better. A couple of others, like Ernst and Sullivan, fall into the category of those in Congress who will vote for any military spending, no matter how costly or tangential to our national security the bill might be.
The rest, well, they proved long ago that they are part of the problem in Washington that brought us a national debt of over $34 trillion.
To give you some idea of how disconnected from our national security this bill is, according to our friend principled limited government constitutional conservative Senator Mike Lee of Utah, it gives Ukraine more money than the entire United States Marine Corps will receive for FY 2023.
And our friend liberty-minded Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was even more blunt about the motivation and where the money is going to end up.
While some Ukraine war hawks on the Right may support this supplemental military aid package the broader conservative movement is opposed.
Indeed, Heritage Action Executive Vice President Ryan Walker spoke for most conservatives we know when he released the following statement reiterating the organization’s opposition to Biden’s supplemental spending request:
“For months, conservatives have been consistent in our opposition to President Biden’s reckless, unrelated supplemental request that sticks Americans with more than $100 billion in additional deficit spending—all without accountability or transparency.
“Our principled opposition will not change if Chuck Schumer strips out the ‘border security deal’ that was proven so unserious it collapsed in 48 hours. Heritage Action will Key Vote ‘No’ on cloture on the motion to proceed to the foreign funding-only package for the same reasons conservatives have been explaining to lawmakers for months: It’s irresponsible to endlessly fund the war in Ukraine while the Biden administration fails to articulate a goal, strategy, or path to resolution. And conservatives cannot support deficit spending that pushes past Pelosi-era levels with no effort to find offsets in the budget or consider the provisions separately.
“It’s unbelievable that senators would ask the American people to spend billions and billions of dollars on the salaries of Ukrainian bureaucrats and the coffers of foreign banks while families struggle to afford groceries and rent because of Washington’s addiction to deficit spending. If Chuck Schumer keeps bringing this unaccountable foreign aid package to the floor, conservatives should be united in opposition for as long as it takes. It is high time the American people are heard.”
As Heritage Action further observed, tens of millions of U.S. dollars have already been stolen by corrupt Ukrainian officials because of Congress's chaotic and reckless push to provide aid without guardrails, and the administration has yet to explain how further fraud will be prevented.
Worse, this funding includes $7.85 billion "which may include budget support" to Ukraine for salaries and other needs of government employees and soldiers and $50 million more for "food insecurity." It provides $5.65 billion "to address humanitarian needs in response to the situations in Israel and Ukraine, including the provision of emergency food and shelter." An additional $1.58 billion will support "Europe, Eurasia and Central Europe" as an "emergency requirement." $3.5 billion will meet the humanitarian needs of "refugees in response to the situations in Israel and Ukraine." Lastly, the bill provides a component of the World Bank $250 million.
Republicans in the Senate should know better than to do another behind closed doors Swamp Deal with Chuck Schumer. The more that comes out about this bill, the worse it smells. Conservatives defeated the Lankford – Biden – Schumer open borders bill by melting the Senate phonelines and email servers, there’s still time to do it again. The Capitol Switchboard is (202-224-3121), call today and tell your Senators to vote NO on the McConnell – Schumer America Last military supplemental.
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