Rep. Mo Brooks, AL-05, is not happy about the idea of dolling out cash to Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund while slashing defense spending at home.
The “Support for the Sovereignty, Integrity, Democracy, and Economic Stability of Ukraine Act of 2014,” which overwhelmingly passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday, would fund reforms at the International Monetary Fund to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, in addition to offering Ukraine $1 billion in loan guarantees, $50 million for “democracy, governance and civil society assistance,” and another $100 million for “enhanced security cooperation for Ukraine and other states in Central and Eastern Europe.”
House Republicans have already passed a bill to supply aid to Ukraine without the added costs of the IMF reforms, which they say would be paid for on the backs of America’s men and women in uniform.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle feel a sense of urgency to get an aid bill signed into law ahead of Sunday’s vote on secession in Crimea, which is currently occupied by Russian troops.
Congressman Brooks said he believes there are countless programs other than national defense that could be cut to fund the US efforts to stabilize Ukraine. Perhaps most notably, Brooks pointed out the country’s $1 trillion in annual welfare spending, as well as the billions of dollars doled out each year to illegal aliens who fraudulently obtain tax refunds.
“I am flabbergasted that the Democratic Senate seeks to pay for aid to the Ukraine by slashing national defense funding,” said Brooks. “President Obama and the Democrats have already hammered national defense funding to the point that America’s national security is at risk. National defense is the #1 priority of the federal government. Instead of again hammering national defense, President Obama and Congressional Democrats should cut the $4.3 billion per year paid by our Treasury to illegal aliens who use tax identification numbers to fraudulently obtain tax refunds, cut the more than $1 trillion per year the federal government spends on means-tested welfare give-away programs, or cut any number of other lesser priority programs.”
Brooks said defense cuts have only emboldened America’s enemies around the world.
“Further cuts to national security, on top of the cuts imposed by sequestration and the Budget Control Act, embolden Russia’s Vladimir Putin and America’s other geo-political foes while making America weaker,” Brooks concluded.
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