On Saturday, 2024 presidential candidate and political outsider Vivek Ramaswamy announced his opposition to President Biden’s proposed $106 billion foreign aid package and called on lawmakers to vote against the funding request:
“This funding request is ill-conceived on multiple levels. The U.S. is currently drowning in a $33 trillion national debt problem, caused in part by $6.5 trillion wasted in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The cost of funding the Ukraine war will not be limited simply to the next $61 billion infusion that Biden proposes now but serial further involvement in a war against Russia that does not advance U.S. interests and increases the risk of major conflict with a nuclear power, at a time when we should instead focus on negotiating a reasonable path to peace in Ukraine while weakening the Russia-China alliance that represents a true threat to U.S. interests.
“Meanwhile, Israel is barreling toward a potentially catastrophic ground invasion of Gaza without clear objectives. ‘Destroy Hamas’ is not on its own a viable or coherent strategy. Instead, Israel is likely to invite attacks from Hezbollah in the north, which would almost surely draw the U.S. into a prolonged all-out regional war in the Middle East that does not advance American interests. The U.S. should be clear with Israel that further U.S. support is contingent on Israel identifying clear objectives for success in Gaza and a coherent plan for what comes after toppling Hamas, even if Israel is successful in doing so. As of now, these critical questions remain unanswered.
“Biden’s pathetic gambit to conflate Ukraine, Israel, and U.S. border funding requests is a ploy to evade debate on the merits at a time when we need open debate more than ever. I call on lawmakers in both parties to vote NO on this disastrous proposal.”
In his recent interview with Tucker Carlson, watch here, Ramaswamy outlined alternative paths to support Israel’s national self-defense, focused on eliminating Hamas leadership and fortifying border security in Israel and the U.S., that he would support in a way that avoids the risk of broader regional war in the Middle East.
