(Headline USA) Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was slammed on social media for his absurd claim that Ukraine aid was Republicans’ top priority while capitulating to Democrat wish-list demands on a massive omnibus spending bill.
Right now I’m praying for one of those UFO’s I just saw on Tucker…. to come down and scoop up Mitch McConnell.
Mitch is a jackass and a traitor.
— Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) December 21, 2022
After the revelation that the U.S. will send $1.8 billion in military aid to Ukraine in a massive package as part of the year-end appropriations deal, McConnell marveled over the fact that the GOP was able to negotiate all its demands with a Democrat dominated Congress and White House.
He further gaslighted by insisting that the money-laundering operation in Ukraine was at the top of that list.
“Providing assistance for Ukrainians to defeat the Russians is the No. 1 priority for the United States right now according to most Republicans,” he claimed. “That’s how we see the challenges confronting the country at the moment.”
But some, including Donald Trump Jr., countered that they did not know any Republicans who would agree with that statement.
Mitch McConnell actually said yesterday that most Republicans #1 priority is … Ukraine.
I have yet to meet a single Republican that thinks that, but I guess the disconnect between actual republicans and DC swamp rats shouldn’t surprise anyone.
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) December 21, 2022
Mollie Hemingway, the editor of The Federalist, called on the GOP to oust the swamp-friendly, octogenarian career politician
“So long as McConnell is top elected Republican, eagerly trashing voters, vociferously advocating for Dem policy goals, pushing $1.7 trillion spending packages, and weakly fighting for whatever he can be bothered to pursue, Republicans have obvious problem,” she tweeted.
Some conservative critics—such as libertarian budget hawk Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who hails from the same state as McConnell—opted not to focus on the Senate leader but still pointed out the vast wastefulness of the spending and its economic impact.
Massie noted that the price tag amounted to $200 million per congressional district.
$100 billion to Ukraine. Let’s put that in perspective.
That’s more than $200 million this year from each Congressional district.
What could your congressman have done for your district with $200 million?
How long will the kids in your district be paying interest on this debt?
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 21, 2022
Many others questioned the government’s priorities in a time of severe economic hardship as inflation and recession ravage the average American family’s budget and force many to scale down their holiday festivities.
The bill cleared the Senate with support from 20 GOP lawmakers as the tone-deaf Biden administration, fresh off its state dinner wining and dining French President Emmanuel Macron, readied to receive Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday.
Zelenskyy planned to collect the first $47 million in funds during his visit.
You can’t afford groceries but Zelensky will be at the White House today to collect another $47 billion
— Monica Crowley (@MonicaCrowley) December 21, 2022
The $1.8 billion allocation in next year’s budget will for the first time include a Patriot missile battery and precision guided bombs for their fighter jets, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
The aid signals an expansion by the U.S. in the kinds of advanced weaponry it will send to Ukraine to bolster the country’s air defenses against what has been an increasing barrage of Russian missile strikes.
The package, which was expected to be announced Wednesday, will include about $1 billion in weapons from Pentagon stocks and another $800 million in funding through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which funds weapons, ammunition, training and other assistance, officials said.
Zelenskyy and other Ukraine officials have pressed Western leaders to provide more advanced weapons, including the Patriots, to help their country in its war with Russia.
The Patriot would be the most advanced surface-to-air missile system the West has provided to Ukraine to help repel Russian aerial attacks.
In addition to the $47 million and the roughly $68 million already spent on Ukraine since February 2022, Congress is poised to approve another $44.9 billion in assistance that would ensure that U.S. support will continue next year and beyond as Republicans take control of the House in January.
The decision to send the Patriot battery comes despite threats from Russia’s Foreign Ministry that the delivery of the advanced surface-to-air missile system would be considered a provocative step and that the Patriot and any crews accompanying it would be a legitimate target for Moscow’s military.
But the White House is pushing back against the notion that delivery of the Patriot amounts to an escalation of U.S. involvement on behalf of Ukraine. A senior administration official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity, said that Biden has been clear that his administration would “lean forward” in supporting Ukraine but it is “not seeking to engage in direct war with Russia.”
It’s not clear exactly when the Patriot would arrive on the front lines in Ukraine, since U.S. troops will have to train Ukrainian forces on how to use the high-tech system. The training could take several weeks, and is expected to be done at the Grafenwoehr training area in Germany. To date, all training of Ukraine forces by the U.S. and the West has taken place in European countries.
Also included in the package will be an undisclosed number of Joint Direct Attack Munitions kits, or JDAMs, officials said. The kits will be used to modify massive bombs by adding tail fins and precision navigation systems so that rather than being simply dropped from a fighter jet onto a target, they can be released and guided to a target.
U.S. fighter and bomber aircraft use the JDAMs, and the Pentagon has been working to modify them so they can be used by Ukraine.
The U.S. so far has been reluctant to provide Ukraine with American fighter jets. Russia has warned the the advanced aircraft would be considered provocative, and the U.S. to date has said other weaponry would be a better fit, citing the significant maintenance and training needs for those warplanes.
So instead of providing Ukraine those U.S. aircraft, the Pentagon is helping Kyiv find innovative ways to upgrade its fleet with the same capabilities it would get with a U.S. fighter jet.
The aid package will also include an undisclosed number of rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, thousands of artillery and mortar rounds, trucks, and HARM air-to-surface anti-radiation missiles.
According to officials, the urgent pleadings of Ukrainian leaders and the devastating destruction of the country’s civilian infrastructure, including loss of electricity and heat during winter, ultimately overcame U.S. reservations about supplying the Patriots.
White House and Pentagon leaders have said consistently that providing Ukraine with additional air defenses is a priority, and Patriot missiles have been under consideration for some time. Officials said that as the winter closed in and the Russian bombardment of civilian infrastructure escalated, that consideration took on increased priority.
U.S. officials had balked at providing the Patriots to Ukraine because they could be considered a escalation that would trigger a response from Moscow. In addition, there were concerns about the significant training that would be required and questions about whether U.S. troops would have been required to operate it. Biden has flatly rejected sending any U.S. combat troops to Ukraine.
One Patriot battery routinely includes up to eight launchers, each of which can hold four missiles. It would be coming from Pentagon training stocks in the U.S..
The entire system, which includes a phased array radar, a control station, computers and generators, typically requires about 90 soldiers to operate and maintain. However, only three soldiers are needed to actually fire it, according to the Army.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
