Stresses how it is in the best interest of America for Ukraine to succeed and Russia to fail
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) today released the following video message regarding legislation being considered by Congress to send $40 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine:
You’re going to be hearing all sorts of reasons not to send military hardware to Ukraine. There’s an Ukraine support bill in the Senate that has been already passed by the House. It provides $40 billion, half of which—$20 billion—is for military arms going to Ukraine.
One senator said he will vote no because we should paying attention to the needs of Americans, to American interests. Well, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. And it is very much in the best interests of Americans to see Ukraine succeed and Russia fail. If Russia wins, this will not be the last time it invades a neighbor. And war is bad for everyone, even here in America: it interrupts the flow of raw materials, it raises the prices of oil and the products Americans buy, it roils capital markets and depresses the value of our retirement investments.
If Russia wins, it will mean that stronger nuclear nations will be able to invade and oppress other sovereign nations at will. Russia winning is a win for authoritarians like China.
Some will argue that this Ukraine bill is too expensive. Think about it: We spend about a trillion dollars a year—that’s $1,000 billion a year—on our national defense. A lot of that is due to the fact that Russia has 1,500 nuclear warheads aimed at us. So spending $20 billion—that’s 2% of our military funding—to help Ukraine defeat and weaken Russia is one of the smartest and most economic investments we can possibly make.
Now, some will protest that Ukraine has corruption and that we can’t guarantee the money will be spent the right way. Well, first of all, they will be buying the military hardware from us. And maybe before we get too animated about fraud and corruption in Ukraine, we should focus on the fraud here in America. Did you know that of the COVID relief money sent for unemployment insurance, over $150 billion was fraudulent? That means it was stolen by criminals. Of course, we should make sure that the Ukrainian money is going to be well spent, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to continue to delay getting aid to the people of Ukraine.
I will be voting for the Ukraine bill because it is in America’s interest to do so. And it is also the right thing to do. Ukrainians are fighting for freedom. They are being brutally violated by Russia. So, I am proud to stand for the freedom-loving people of Ukraine, and I hope you will, too.