The Pro-Putin Caucus Of The GQP Cannot Stop Military Aid Package To Ukraine

Last week Putin Puppet Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) held up approval of military aid to Ukraine. Always the asshole, Kentucky should be so proud. Rand Paul blocks bipartisan effort to swiftly pass Ukraine aid:

In a rare showing of public unity, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell took to the Senate floor to press for quick passage of a $40 billion aid bill for Ukraine but were blocked by GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky who is demanding changes to the legislation.

Despite the high-profile pressure from the two leaders, Paul refused to blink, meaning that Schumer will need to take procedural steps to overcome his objection, which could take several days, but will ultimately lead to passage of the supplemental spending bill sometime next week.

McConnell and Schumer on Thursday offered to allow a vote on Paul’s amendment, but he insisted it be added to the underlying bill.

The change Paul is seeking would create a special inspector general to oversee how the Ukraine military aid is spent. Members from both parties broadly agree with that notion, but forcing a change to the bill at this stage would be very time consuming and would slow getting the needed aid to Ukraine.

“The package is ready to go,” Schumer said. “The vast majority of senators on both sides of the aisle want it. There’s now only one thing holding us back the junior senator from Kentucky is preventing swift passage of Ukraine aid because he wants to add at the last minute his own changes directly into the bill. His change is strongly opposed by many members of both parties.”

Over the weekend, Sen. Paul’s seat mate from Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, led a delegation of Republican senators to Kiev to assure President Zelinsky that the aid package would be approved. Mitch should have stuffed Rand Paul into a duffle bag and personally delivered this Putn Puppet to the Ukraine government. McConnell leads delegation of Republican senators to Kyiv:

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Saturday led a delegation of Republican senators to war-ravaged Ukraine.

Video showed Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) walking with McConnell in the Ukrainian capital alongside President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy called the visit a powerful signal of bipartisan support for Ukraine from Congress and the American people, according to a readout published by the Ukrainian Presidential Administration.

[T]he visit comes as a $40 billion aid package to fortify Ukraine’s defenses against the Russian invasion stalled in the Senate following Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) demands for a watchdog to track the money.

On Thursday, after an unnecessary delay of a week caused by Putin Puppet Sen. Rand Paul, the Senate finally approved the aid package to Ukraine. U.S. deepens Ukraine commitment with $40 billion in aid, expanded NATO:

President Biden and Congress on Thursday deepened U.S. involvement in the global effort to reject the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the Senate voting to finalize more than $40 billion in new military and humanitarian assistance while Biden and top lawmakers lent firm public support to what could be the most significant expansion of NATO in nearly two decades.

The events came as America and its allies pivot to planning for a longer war in Ukraine, the scope of which has narrowed since the initial Russian invasion three months ago but whose duration appears increasingly lasting as the fighting enters a grueling new phase. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has implored the West to provide his military with a more sophisticated arsenal to wage a protracted battle in the east and south of the country against the forces of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, by moving swiftly to back the admission of Finland and Sweden to NATO, U.S. leaders are not waiting for a military resolution to render the invasion a strategic defeat for Putin, an effort highlighted Thursday in visits to the White House and the Capitol by Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.

“In the face of aggression, NATO has not grown weaker or more divided. It has grown stronger, more united,” Biden said after meeting with the two leaders, calling the decision of Finland and Sweden to renounce decades of nonalignment following the Russian invasion “a victory for democracy in action.”

In a separate written statement on the aid package, Biden thanked Congress “for sending a clear bipartisan message to the world that the people of the United States stand together with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their democracy and freedom.”

The bill, passed on an 86-to-11 vote Thursday, provides a combined $20 billion in military aid that is expected to finance the transfer of advanced weapons systems, such as Patriot antiaircraft missiles and long-range artillery. Also included in the bill is more than $8 billion in general economic support for Ukraine, nearly $5 billion in global food aid to address potential food shortages sparked by the collapse of the Ukrainian agricultural economy, and more than $1 billion in combined support for refugees.

Despite the bipartisan nature of the vote, the Pro-Putin Caucus of the GQP is growing larger.

The 11 No votes: Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, John Boozman of Arkansas, Mike Braun of Indiana, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee,  Josh Hawley of Missouri, Mike Lee of Utah, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall, Rand Paul and Tommy Tuberville, per @alizaslav

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) May 19, 2022

In early March, Rep. Thomas Massie, another Putin Puppet from Kentucky, was one of just three lawmakers to oppose the first piece of legislation designed to show U.S. support for Ukraine in its war against an invading Russian army. The list of anti-Ukraine Republican lawmakers is quickly growing:

But on Monday, Massie spoke to Trump for the first time in more than two years — and received the former president’s endorsement in the May 17 Kentucky primary. And on Tuesday, 56 Republicans joined Massie in opposing the latest push to send arms to the Ukrainian forces.

The vote was 368-57, with 5 not voting. All four of Arizona’s congressional Republicans are members of the pro-Putin Caucus of the GQP and voted against the aid package to Ukraine. All four of Arizona’s congressional Republicans are also members of the Sedition Caucus who voted against certifyng the electoral college vote of the 2020 election.

“It’s growing by the week,” he told reporters in an impromptu 20-minute conversation off the House floor Friday. He suggested the price tag so far was “insane” and that sanctions against Moscow only increase inflation. “More and more people are agreeing with that.”

Massie, 51, is the only member of the House to hold a perfect 16-for-16 record opposing legislation to support Ukraine and oppose Russia, according to House records and a Democratic analysis provided to The Washington Post.

It was easy to brush Massie aside in early March when he opposed a simple, nonbinding resolution declaring American support for Ukraine and demanding Russian President Vladimir Putin call a cease fire. Or in late April, when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was the only other Republican to oppose a bill to protect religious freedoms in Ukraine.

Little by little, however, with each proposal, a few more Republicans would sign up: eight Republicans opposed suspending trade privileges for Russia in mid-March; 17 Republicans opposed a resolution supporting Moldova, whose leaders fear their Ukraine-bordering nation could be Putin’s next target; 19 opposed a similar resolution in support for Georgia.

Then, on April 27, 55 House Republicans opposed legislation to build secure telecommunications networks in Ukraine and neighboring nations. Finally, on Tuesday, 57 Republicans opposed President Biden’s request for $40 billion in weapons and humanitarian aid, with some saying the legislation had been rushed to the floor without detailed consideration. All Democrats backed the president’s request.

* * *

Marjorie “Q” Greene, who frequently appears as a warm-up act for Trump rallies, has opposed 15 of the 16 measures related to Ukraine. Arizona GOP Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul A. Gosar — who supported efforts to try to block President Biden’s certification of victory in the 2020 campaign — have voted against 11 and 10 of the Ukraine-related bills, respectively.

These Republicans sum up their world view in blunt, nationalist terms.

[B]ut Massie — an engineer who graduated with several degrees from M.I.T. and became an inventor who still holds a number of patents — has devoted time and energy to honing his America First views during five terms in the House.

“I’m further, I think, than he is on the issue of NATO. He demanded that the partners pay their share. I would withdraw us from NATO,” Massie explained of his and Trump’s views toward the critical alliance. “It’s a Cold War relic. Our involvement should have ceased when the [Berlin] wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed.”

He would have preemptively surrendered portions of eastern Ukraine to Russia in a manner that would have “avoided tens of thousands of people dying,” because this is how he sees the war ending anyway.

“A fractured Ukraine, with the Eastern portion of it being a satellite or more government, more deferential to Putin, and the Western part of it more deferential to Europe or the United States,” Massie said.

This is appeasement to unprovoked Russian military aggression and genocide of the Ukrainian people.

These views are anathema to traditional Republican hawks as well as Democrats in line with Biden, who push for a vigorous foreign policy that works to unify allies, particularly in Europe.

There is something rotten in the state of Kentucky when it produces Putin Puppets like Thomas Massie and Rand Paul, and a “Moscow Mitch” McConnell.