Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida continues to push back on the liberals’ plan to bundle military aid for Israel and Ukraine, saying Congress should deal with both wars as well as funding for the Mexican border crisis as separate issues.
The Fort Walton Beach Republican, in an interview with Fox News, said anti-Russia hawks among Republicans and Democrats in the Senate want to tap into popular support for Israel and “drag along our continued involvement” in the war in Ukraine, support for which is fading.
Meanwhile, the issue at the southern border is not money. Rather, it is a lack of will to take necessary steps to undo President Joe Biden’s open-border policies, said Gaetz.
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“I am not for the Joe Biden $100 billion supplemental that will make things more challenging on the southern border and certainly won’t make us safer abroad,” Gaetz said during the interview on Sunday.
“I don’t believe that the American people want to pay another $100 billion to figure out which guy gets to run Crimea.”
The Hill reported on Monday that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is prepared to float a measure that would fund Ukraine, Israel, and efforts to thwart China in Asia.
Some Democrats are now balking at passing aid for Israel, as the GOP-led House already did with a stand-alone bill unless Israel goes easy on Hamas.
Gaetz, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, added that he’s not as concerned about Ukraine’s fate as he is about some provocation that might tempt Russia to use its nuclear arsenal and draw the U.S. deeper into the conflict.
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As for the Middle East war between Israel and Hamas, Gaetz said he would give Biden a failing grade because the president has not taken enough precautions to ensure U.S. aid is not being rerouted to the terrorist network.
Gaetz also criticized the “hostage-trading diplomacy” that Biden and his administration have supported. That, he added, will only encourage bad actors to snatch more hostages.”
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