Sen. Rand Paul isn’t necessarily against providing new U.S. aid to embattled Ukraine, but he does have some concerns that he thinks should be addressed first.
Like, taking care of Americans.
The Kentucky Republican slammed the breaks on the rapid passage of a new $40 billion Ukraine aid package by objecting to a move by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), with the consent of fellow Kentucky Republican and Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, to pass the package via unanimous consent.
After Paul objected, the measure now must go through several procedural moves though it is expected to pass sometime next week anyway.
“Reserving the right to object, my oath of office is to the U.S. Constitution, not to any foreign nation,” Paul said when the Senate chair asked if there were any objectors. “And no matter how sympathetic the cause, my oath of office is to the national security of the United States of America.”
“We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the U.S. economy,” the Republican senator added, in reference to the steep inflationary increases in gas, food, and used vehicles faced by Americans. “Inflation doesn’t just come out of nowhere, it comes from deficit spending.”
Paul said that it seemed like Congress was “intent” on “adding” to the pain Americans were experiencing economically “by shoveling more money out the door as fast as they can.”
“If this gift to Ukraine passes, our total aid to Ukraine will almost equal the entire military budget of Russia. And it’s not as if we have that money lying around, we will have to borrow that money from China to send it to Ukraine,” Paul stated.
The Daily Wire noted further:
He also claimed that the money being authorized to Ukraine was more than that spent in the first year of the Afghanistan war, collected yearly by the government in gas taxes, spent on cancer research, and the budgets for the Department of Homeland Security.
Paul also said that other European countries had stepped up to help Ukraine and that the U.S. didn’t “always have to be the Uncle Sam, the policeman that saves the world, particularly when it’s on borrowed money.”
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