Rand Paul Upset Ukrainians Aren’t Paying for American Weapons: ‘They Should Be Sales, Not Gifts’

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) expressed his displeasure with the fact that the United States is giving assistance to help Ukrainians fight Russia’s invasion rather than making them pay for it.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed a funding bill allocating $13.6 billion in economic and military aid to Ukraine. The White House announced an additional $800 million in “security assistance” to the country, which includes anti-tank and surface-to-air missiles.

Later that night, Newsmax host Rob Schmitt asked for Paul’s reaction.

“You’re one of the few fiscal hawks left in Congress,” Schmitt said. “It’s a reasonable amount of money. Although, you know these days when they throw around trillion all the time, I guess billions don’t even really matter anymore. It’s just kind of like pocket change, isn’t it?”

Paul replied that “billions do matter and I’ve insisted each time that any spending comes through Congress – whether it’s for war, whether it’s for peace, whether it’s for welfare, whether it’s for Covid – that it be offset. So I have introduced amendments in the past – these requests for arms, that they’d be paid for them.”

The senator said the cash the U.S. is spending on Ukraine and elsewhere is “borrowed money,” which means the country is further indebted. “I think ultimately it does weaken us,” he told Schmitt.

“And this doesn’t mean I don’t have sympathy for Ukraine, or actually not in favor of selling them arms,” he continued. “But I think they should be sales, not gifts, and I think that we should not go further in debt because ultimately we are the backstop to the world. And if we are indebted to such a degree that we destroy our currency or our country who will be the backstop?”

Watch above via Newsmax.