Ohio’s Republican U.S. Senate nominee Thursday raised against a bill that will send $40 billion to Ukraine, citing problems that the United States has domestically.
“I don’t think we should be spending any more money, unless it’s on America’s problems here at home,” J.D. Vance said Thursday. “I would make any additional aid for the Ukrainians conditional on sending money to the American southern border, on actually trying to fix this terrible shortage of baby formula and hospital supplies.”
Vance was referencing a grave shortage in baby formula which has become a major national storyline this week, along with decades-high inflation and record-high gasoline prices.
“I really don’t think that we have the resources here to spend a ton of additional money on a problem in Ukraine that is tragic – and I’m not doubting that it’s tragic – but I don’t think it’s as much of a concern as problems at home,” said Vance. “So I’d like American leaders to focus on our problems, and that’s what I’d do in the U.S. Senate.”
Sharing a clip from Tucker Carlson Tonight, which highlighted the decimation of Ohio’s working class, Vance took a shot at his opponent, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH-13).
“Tim Ryan is pushing billions in foreign aid while the communities he serves in Congress have been decimated,” Vance said.
Tim Ryan is pushing billions in foreign aid while the communities he serves in Congress have been decimated. pic.twitter.com/uZuAExy9ac
— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) May 12, 2022
The bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives with every Democrat and most Republicans voting in its favor, will send $40 billion to Ukraine for military aid in its war with Russia.
But Vance is not the only Ohio Republican to voice opposition to the massive spending package.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) joined The Ingraham Angle Tuesday to explain why he voted against the bill.
“I understand peoples’ intentions,” Jordan said. “I understand how bad the situation is for the Ukrainian people [and] what they’re going through, and why some of my colleagues may have went that way, but I also understand what’s happening here in this country with record levels of crime, a border that’s wide open, an attorney general who treats the very moms and dads you were talking to as if they were domestic terrorists – and what have the Democrats done in the last two weeks? Last week they give us the Disinformation Governance Board – they come after our First Amendment liberties – and this week they spend $40 billion on a foreign country.”
“So that’s the concern that I have, and I think so many Americans have,” Jordan said. “I’ve voted for all kinds of help for Ukraine thus far, but this bill we said ‘no, look, we gotta focus on the issues that count here in America, that matter to American families, and also help Ukraine but do it in a way that makes more sense than I think this piece of legislation did.'”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Tim Ryan” by Tim Ryan.
