U.S. Rep. Richard Nugent is criticizing millions of dollars of U.S. aid for the Ukraine at a time when the country is drastically cutting its own military.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week passed legislation dealing with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and an aid package for Ukraine that pays for the cost by implementing additional cuts to the military.
“I am absolutely appalled that members of the United States Senate, who have sworn an oath to defend this nation, would seriously be considering cuts to our own military in order to give that money away to other countries. This government does a lot of things that I think are wrong-headed, but cutting from the military to pay for the IMF is about as bad as it can get,” Nugent said.
The Republican who represents a large portion of The Villages said members of Congress are naive in thinking the world is free of threats.
“If you don’t think that Russia and China and others are watching what we’re doing here and slapping high fives behind the scenes, you’re crazy. Every time America purposefully weakens itself, it has the effect of purposefully strengthening our enemies and I would encourage my Senate colleagues to think very carefully about that,” he said.