Hawley: $40 Billion To Ukraine Is More Failed Uniparty Nation-Building That Hoses American Interests

Elise McCue reporting for The Federalist

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley is slamming his own party’s perceived prioritization of foreign aid over domestic interests. In an op-ed for Compact Magazine, Hawley condemned his fellow Republicans who supported the recently passed $40 billion Ukraine package.

“The cost alone is startling,” said Hawley. “It is three times what all of Europe has contributed to date and roughly the size of Ukraine’s entire national budget. Speaking of which, the bill includes funds for Ukraine’s treasury to the tune of $8.8 billion. And Biden administration officials suggest they will soon ask for more. This goes far beyond targeted military assistance. This package treats Ukraine as a client state of America, a fraught relationship that will put us on the hook for financing the war and then the reconstruction.”

Hawley chalked up Republican support of the bill to a neoconservative ideology that holds America has a duty to use its resources to aid struggling foreign countries and intervene in their wars. Hawley, however, believes the package is an example of Republicans’ skewed priorities stemming from the dogma that America should rebuild other nations in our image.

He wrote:

“The administration won’t give our own troops a raise that keeps pace with inflation. It won’t secure our southern border. It is dragging its feet on the force-posture changes needed in Asia to counter a rising China. But $40 billion is enough to give every American service member a real raise. It’s enough to build a wall at the border—twice over. And it would address all of our posture needs vis-à-vis Beijing, and then some.”

In support of the bill that Hawley criticized, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said, “There’s always been isolationist voices in the Republican Party. It won’t create a problem. We’ll get the job done.”

In contrast, Hawley said that America must instead have “robust nationalism” before bending over backward to aid in a foreign conflict.