The weapons pipeline has hit a snag in the US Senate. In “an audacious departure” from the near unanimous support for the wide opening of the spigot of weapons to Ukraine, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) objected to passing the $40 billion supplemental by unanimous consent yesterday, delaying it until next week. “It was also a brazen rebellion against his fellow Kentucky Republican, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell began Thursday’s session by saying senators from ‘both sides’ — meaning Republicans and Democrats — needed to ‘help us pass this urgent funding bill today,’ gesturing emphatically as he said ‘today,’” reported The Associated Press.
Paul is demanding adding language to the bill that would require that an inspector general review how the funds are being spent, a move which both Democrats and Republicans are objecting to. He argued that the added spending was a significant sum that would deepen federal deficits and worsen inflation. “No matter how sympathetic the cause, my oath of office is to the national security of the United States of America,” Paul said. “We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the U.S. economy.”
“It’s clear from the junior senator from Kentucky’s remarks, he doesn’t want to aid Ukraine,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., “All he will accomplish with his actions here today is to delay that aid, not to stop it.”
