Rand Paul asks for pause on $40B Ukraine weapons bill

— Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul defied leaders of both parties Thursday and delayed Senate approval of a bill to send $40 billion to Ukraine.

With the Senate poised to vote on the weapons spending, Paul denied leaders the unanimous agreement they needed to proceed.

The legislation has been approved by the House and has strong support in the Senate. Final passage is not in doubt.

Even so, Paul’s objection was an audacious departure from a support in Congress for sending billions in unaudited taxpayer funds to Ukraine.

Paul said he wanted language inserted into the bill that would have an inspector general scrutinize the spending.

Paul pointed out that the spending was more than the U.S. spends on many domestic programs, was more than most nations’ entire defense budget and 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.”

Democrats said they were objecting to Paul’s plan because it would expand the powers of an existing inspector general whose current purview is limited to Afghanistan.

“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.”

Underscoring their joint desire to spend the money immediately, Schumer and McConnell stood nearly side-by-side as they tried pushing the legislation forward.

The House voted 368-57 on Tuesday to approve the measure. All Democrats and most Republicans backed it, though every “no” vote came from the GOP.

Biden administration officials have said they expect the latest aid measure to suffice for a few months before it will request further money from taxpayers.

The latest bill, when added to the $13.6 billion, would push American aid to the region well above $50 billion. For perspective, that would total $6 billion more than the U.S. spent on military and economic aid around the world in 2019, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

Biden asked Congress for $33 billion two weeks ago. It didn’t take lawmakers long to add $3.4 billion to his requests.