The controversial $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine and Israel signed into law by President Biden last week continues to receive criticism from Republicans frustrated with the lack of border security. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) expressed the sentiment in a brief op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, saying he was "glad I can tell [my constituents] I wasn’t one of those 79" who voted in favor of the aid package.
Sen. Rubio's comments were a response to another opinion piece in the Journal, which said, "the politics of Ukraine are changing," as Republicans are "rejecting" isolationism abroad.
While he acknowledged the politics are changing, the Florida Senator clarified, "but not as the editorial board suggests. While some votes have shifted in Washington, public sentiment has moved the other way. Some of this has to do with the situation in Ukraine. Most of it has to do with the situation in America."
By this, Sen. Rubio referred to the border crisis, which has not only enabled criminal organizations such as the infamous Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua to commit "more sex trafficking, murder, drugs and extortion," but illegal immigrants not affiliated with criminal organizations "are draining public resources by competing for scarce housing, jobs and hospital beds."
Moreover, Rubio suggested that $3.5 billion within the foreign aid bill would go to organizations that enable illegal immigration, although what he is referring to is unknown.
Nevertheless, he concluded, "My constituents elected me to represent their interests in Washington. They want to know why 79 members of Congress would send money to defend Ukraine’s border when their own president won’t defend their border. I’m glad I can tell them I wasn’t one of those 79."
Ahead of the Senate vote for approval, Rubio decried the foreign aid bill as "blackmail" and "moral extortion" for its lack of border security measures at a time when America's enemies are taking advantage of the open border.
"I have to vote to do nothing to stop thousands of people a day that we know literally nothing about from coming across our border and being released into our country? This is not a compromise. This is legislative blackmail, and I will not vote for blackmail," Rubio said on the Senate floor.
