“President Biden must make a decision TODAY: either give Ukraine access to the aircraft and air defense systems it needs to defend itself, or establish a no-fly zone to close Ukrainian skies from Russian attacks,” Scott said in a statement. “If President Biden does not do this NOW, President Biden will show himself to be absolutely heartless and ignorant of the loss of innocent Ukrainian children and families.”
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Last week, Scott was one of 31 Republicans who voted against a massive $1.5 trillion spending bill to fund government agencies through the end of the fiscal year, which would also include $13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine. Biden signed the bill on Tuesday, calling the aid that the United States is “taking urgent action to further increase support for the courageous people of Ukraine defending their country.”
In his no vote, Scott called the overall spending bill wasteful, arguing that it is filled with lawmakers’ favorite bills. “It makes my blood boil,” Scott said last week.
Democrats were quick to denounce what they saw as blatant hypocrisy among Republicans who voted against the bailout, but were quick to criticize Biden as the commander in chief leading Ukraine’s problems from behind.
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“We must send more deadly aid to Ukraine, which I voted against last week,” Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) tweeted.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has highlighted divisions within the Republican Party over US involvement abroad and the reputation of the NATO alliance. For decades, during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and George W. Bush, the Republican Party has been hawkish with high military spending and confidence to come to the aid of its allies.
President Donald Trump’s “America First” view and efforts to undermine NATO, including questions about why the military alliance exists at all, have solidified positions in the Republican Party, as reflected in Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green’s (Georgia-Rp) response to Ukraine. In a video on Wednesday, Green blamed both Russia and Ukraine and warned against US interference. Biden has repeatedly stated that he will not send American troops to fight.
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Potential 2024 presidential candidates like Scott have been highly critical of Biden, who also announced Wednesday that the Pentagon is sending nearly $1 billion worth of military equipment to Ukraine, including 800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, 100 drones, 25,000 helmets and more than 20 million rounds of ammunition. . ammunition for small arms and grenade and mortar rounds.
In early February, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), another possible candidate for the White House, sent a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stating that it would be worse for the United States if Ukraine was admitted to NATO, the US military alliance. 30 mostly Western nations, including the United States, are bound by a mutual defense pact and have argued that the United States should instead focus on countering China.
Hawley, who voted against a billion-dollar spending bill for Ukraine, said Wednesday that Biden needs to “step up” and send MiG jet fighters and other weapons to Ukraine, accusing the administration of “leg-tightening.”
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The Pentagon rejected Poland’s offer to send MiG fighter jets to Ukraine due to fears of further escalation involving a NATO country.
In a statement on Thursday, Hawley said: “Aid to Ukraine should not be held hostage to Democratic pet projects, and I did not support a massive $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill stuffed with billions in earmarked funds.”
Senator Ben Sass (R-Nebraska), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee who also voted against the spending bill, told MSNBC Thursday that the United States “could do more” for Ukraine.
“There were all sorts of special cases when the administration said a lot of the right things yesterday, but the fact that yesterday the pen was in the hand of President Biden does not mean that the weapon is in the hands of Zelensky today. And at every point, we’re too slow, and it seems like a huge part of the administration’s audience are domestic lawyers, and they’re making these offensive and defensive legal arguments,” Sasse said.
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On the floor of the Senate on Thursday, Sass said the spending bill was not “really about aid to Ukraine” but “a whole bunch of junk.”
“The Ukrainian aid was a small amount of sugar on a larger $1.5 trillion drug that no one really wanted to ship home and defend in front of voters and also in front of America’s taxpayers,” he said.
Senator Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) countered that the only way Ukraine could get help and big legislation was to compromise.
“There are elements in every piece of legislation that many of us disagree with,” Murphy said. “In the budget that you voted against, there are many things that I do not agree with. But in the end, in order to rule the country, you need to be able to find a way to compromise.”
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Schatz, in an interview with The Washington Post after the exchange between Sasse and Murphy, said that the aid vote was “easy”.
“It’s very simple: if you’re not voting for a thing, then you’re not for that thing,” Schatz said. “It’s literally our job to decide whether we are for or against a binary issue.”
“So you can’t say, ‘Even though I voted against helping Ukraine, I’m actually for it, and here’s my explanation,'” Schatz added, arguing that the Republicans were trying to achieve both while maintaining their position. loyalty to Trump, who praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, and at the same time become “Zelensky fans”.
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“They voted to have Trump rehabilitated for this particular reason, which was to refuse to help Zelensky, and here they are again against helping Zelensky,” Schatz said. “So now they do it twice. They still act like they’re defenders of Western-style democracy.”
The day before the vote against the bill, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arctic), another possible presidential candidate, tweeted about the need to come to the aid of Ukraine. “Helping Ukraine defend itself against a ruthless dictator is in our interest,” he tweeted.
Senator Kevin Kramer (RN.D.) posted a clip on Twitter declaring the importance of helping Ukraine. “It’s not much of a deterrent when the help you provide comes after an invasion,” he wrote. “We need to enlist the support of President Zelensky and accelerate assistance to Ukraine.”
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Hours later, Kramer voted against the spending bill.
Senator John Neely Kennedy (R-Lavra) tweeted a clip on the day he voted down a bill in which he spoke of the need to provide Ukraine with more planes.
“The Ukrainian people and President Zelensky are fighting well above their weight, but they need planes,” he said on Fox News. “He made that clear to us over the phone on Saturday.”
“Give this man his planes,” Kennedy added.
Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah), the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, faced much ridicule when, during a debate with President Barack Obama, he called Russia “geopolitical enemy number one,” a remark that seems prophetic in retrospect.
Romney, like other Republicans, pushed for Biden to send more aid to Ukraine. He also voted against a billion-dollar spending bill for the country.
Romney said that while he “strongly” supports helping Ukrainians, he “ultimately cannot support the rest of this bloated spending bill for the aforementioned reasons.”
“Forcing us to swallow the bad to get the good is unsettling, unsustainable and cannot be managed in the long run,” he said.
Romney and Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), along with 40 of their Republican Senate colleagues, are leading efforts to persuade Biden to work with Poland and other NATO allies to expedite the transfer of aircraft and air defense systems to Ukraine. Of those 40 Republicans, 25 voted against the aid package.
Along with increasing domestic spending and keeping government open, the massive spending bill also increased US military spending by 5.6 percent to a total of $762 billion. The bill includes a 2.7% pay increase for all military personnel on active duty.
Several Republicans criticized Ukraine in 2017, when Trump began spreading the conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, who interfered in the 2016 election. Two years later, Democrats accused Trump of using military aid and meeting Zelensky in the Oval Office in exchange for investigating Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, and exposing the theory of Ukrainian interference in the election.
The House of Representatives impeached Trump; The Senate acquitted him on charges of abuse of office and obstruction of Congress. All Republicans in the Senate, except for Romney, voted in favor of an acquittal.
Sen. Mazi Hirano (D-Hawaii) told the Post on Thursday that Republican lawmakers advocating more aid to Ukraine days after voting against the aid bill are “the height of hypocrisy.”
“Some of them will find any way to criticize Joe Biden,” Hirono said. “And I think it’s more than ironic that a president they continue to support refuses to help Ukraine for political purposes.”
As several of those Republicans who voted against the bill were critical of Biden, one Republican pointed to a gap.
Senator Lindsey O. Graham (RS.C.), who voted in favor of the bill, advised his party to stop sending “controversial messages” and lamented that the nearly $14 billion spending bill for Ukraine failed to pass the Senate 100-0. , according to Politico.
And on Thursday, Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak tweeted that he was “grateful” to the United States, whom he called “Ukraine’s reliable partner.”
“[Biden] does more for [Ukraine] than any of his predecessors,” Yermak tweeted.
Tony Romm contributed to this report.