Where is NATO? Trump slams lopsided Biden-backed U.S. funding for Ukraine

by WorldTribune Staff, February 13, 2024

While the nation slept, in the wee hours on Tuesday morning, the Senate passed a $95.3 billion foreign aid bill with assistance for Ukraine and Israel. The vote was 70 to 29 with 22 Republicans voting in favor.

Following Tuesday’s vote, Sen. Ted Cruz said Sen. Mitch McConnell’s time as GOP leader should be over: ‘I think a Republican leader should actually lead this conference and should advance the priorities of Republicans.”

In total, the package includes $61 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel in its war against Hamas, and $4.83 billion to support partners in the Indo-Pacific, including Taiwan, to deter aggression by China.

It also hands $9.15 billion of U.S. taxpayer money to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, Ukraine, and other conflict zones around the globe.

Former President Donald Trump slammed the Joe Biden-backed package and pointed to NATO’s absence in the Ukraine cash bonanza:

I MADE NATO STRONG, and even the RINOS and Radical Left Democrats admit that. When I told the 20 Countries that weren’t paying their fair share that they had to PAY UP, and said without doing that you will not have U.S. Military Protection, the money came rolling in. After so many years of the United States picking up the tab, it was a beautiful sight to see. But now, without me there to say YOU MUST PAY, they are at it again. We are into helping Ukraine for more than 100 Billion Dollars more than NATO. We have nobody that they respect, and they insist on paying far less than we do. Wrong, NATO HAS TO EQUALIZE, AND NOW. THEY WILL DO THAT IF PROPERLY ASKED. IF NOT, AMERICA FIRST! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said: “If America fails to stand with our partners on the front lines in Europe and the Middle East, we will shred our credibility with friends in the Indo-Pacific.”

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who opposed McConnell when he was re-elected to his post in 2022, said Tuesday it was time for him to go. “I think a Republican leader should actually lead this conference and should advance the priorities of Republicans,” he said.

McConnell has been a regular target of Trump’s. The two men haven’t spoken since Jan. 6, 2021, even as Trump moves closer and closer to securing his party’s nomination.

House Speaker Mike Johnson cast doubt on its passage in the House, calling it “insufficient” without border security measures in a late night statement saying the Senate has “failed to meet the moment.”

“Now, in the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters,” Johnson said. “America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo.”


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