Last week, over 40 Senate Republicans demanded that the Biden administration help facilitate the transfer of Soviet-era aircraft to Ukraine.
“So far, Russian forces have been stymied by stiff Ukrainian resistance, and we must redouble our efforts to prevent a brutal and unlawful takeover of Ukraine. We urge your administration to work with Poland and our NATO allies to expedite the transfer of urgently-needed airpower, air defense systems and other combat and support capabilities from the United States, NATO allies, and other European partners to Ukraine,” the senators stated in a letter directed to President Joe Biden on March 10, 2022.
42 Republicans, which included Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, signed on to this letter following U.S. officials’ rejection of a proposal from Poland to transfer its Soviet-era MiG fighter jets to Ukraine. Poland hoped to transfer these jets through a U.S. military base in Germany.
Eight GOP Senators did not sign on to this letter. According to an NBC News report, the following Senators refused to sign it:
Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma; Bill Hagerty of Tennessee; Jerry Moran of Kansas; Rand Paul of Kentucky; Mike Rounds of South Dakota; Mike Lee of Utah; Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming; and Roy Blunt of Missouri.
Rand Paul’s refusal to sign on to this letter is in line with his restrained foreign policy vision. He previously stated that he was opposed to dumping money into Ukraine, which he believes will only exacerbate the U.S.’s current debt problems.
Paul is very much in the minority when it comes to pushing for a restrained foreign policy in the Senate. The Russo-Ukrainian War has offered Americans a glimpse of who is with the American people and who is with the military-industrial complex.
To make America’s foreign policy truly America First, liberty conservatives will need to clean up in the primaries and unseat as many pro-war Republican incumbents as possible. In swing states, liberty conservatives should stress how wars don’t benefit the working class and instead pivot towards border security, an issue that enjoys broad support among Americans of all classes.
