Friday saw the passage of an extensive foreign aid package for America's allies that rankled Republican hardliners for its lack of provisions for the southern border. Representative Cory Mills (R-FL), who voted against the package, explained his stance in a recent appearance on Fox Business's Cavuto Coast to Coast, focusing on Ukraine and the lack of participation by other European Union countries in helping them fight the Russian invasion.
Rep. Mills began by explaining how Democrats have failed to define a winning strategy for Ukraine and how "there has been no actual accountability there," citing the Eastern European country's infamy for corruption.
Moreover, he pointed out that the United States has sent over $100 billion to Ukraine when the European Union (EU) "admitted they have 190 billion Euro, $260 billion U.S. in frozen Russian assets where they are making $3 and a half billion dollars in profit on this actual money. Why is that money, which should be being utilized against Russia to help Ukraine, and from the EU's greatest risk?"
The host pointed out that the White House and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have suggested the Russians are winning because U.S. aid did not arrive sooner, to which Rep. Mills compared to drinking with a friend and consistently paying, "You constantly pull your credit card out or your cash out, he is going to stop reaching in his pocket. That is what America has done."
Moreover, the Florida Congressman added, "We continue to reach in our pockets to pay for this endless interventionism, this neoconservative, neoliberal warfare when it is not our responsibility. This should be handled by Germany, [and] by Italy, by France, the people who would not even pay 2% of GDP to NATO, but they want the benefits of America and the benefits of NATO. We need to start getting the EU and other nations to step up and do their job, especially those who are most at risk."
Finally, Mills was asked if President Biden should have done more to aid Ukraine when the war first broke out, as initial aid was slow to come. Mills answered that the Russian invasion could have been prevented in 2014 when they annexed Crimea, which violated the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, a point he has made before.
"We should have been taking this before the international community as a treaty violation. But instead, you have this carte blanche warfare, this [Authorized Use of Military Force] that allows them to go and continue to do what they are doing now, which is to create hot wars and actually not lead to a peaceful and [a] stability operation, but more warfare that is not going to be beneficial to the American people or the Ukrainian people," Mills concluded.
