President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and a handful of left-leaning Republicans (led by Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, of course) have just agreed to a near $100 billion foreign aid bill for Israel and Ukraine.
Is the spending addiction so severe that there is nothing Congress will not spend and borrow money for?
Not one penny of this aid package is paid for with offsetting spending cuts from a near $6 trillion budget. Former President Donald Trump has sensibly suggested that the foreign aid funds—if any—should be in the form of a loan to be paid back by the recipient countries over time. The Democrats wouldn’t go for that.
The Democrats and the White House have even resisted audits of where the first tranches of money to Ukraine have gone—which naturally makes us suspicious.
We’ve argued from day one that, by far, the single most effective way to stop the Russia war machine is to drill and drill and drill for oil and gas here at home to drive down the world price of oil. The aggressions by both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Hamas terrorists were aided and abetted by President Biden’s insane war on American energy. Is it a mere coincidence that Mr. Putin moved Russian troops and tanks into Ukraine after President Biden entered the Oval Office? Both of these warriors are funded with petrodollars.
Where is this “bipartisan” agreement for more drilling and more pipelines? President Biden called for taxpayers to make a sacrifice and do “our duty” to defend our allies, but the one thing he won’t sacrifice is his green agenda.
I know that Americans of goodwill have very different opinions on the wisdom of intervening in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. But what we all should agree on is that the greatest threat to American economic and national security is out-of-control government debt spending, which will soon exceed $35 trillion. This bill adds another $1,200 per household to our debt, as calculated by The Heritage Foundation. And just the interest payments on the additional borrowing will add billions more to the river of red ink.
When challenged on his reckless financial policies, President Biden blames President Trump and “Republican tax cuts.” Neither was tightfisted when it came to controlling spending, but President Biden’s annual deficits per year were $1.5 trillion—twice as high as President Trump’s $750 billion. And these dismal Biden numbers don’t even include the $100 billion this foreign aid bill adds to the national credit card.
If spending more on Israel and Ukraine is such a vital priority for America, surely we could cut a mere 2 cents out of the dollar from every other program to pay for it.
