Sen. Blackburn to Newsmax: Transparency Vital on Ukraine Spending

There must be greater transparency about the billions of dollars the United States is sending to Ukraine for its fight against Russia, including with the plans to provide the country with a Patriot missile defense system, Sen. Marsha Blackburn told Newsmax Wednesday, ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit with President Joe Biden and his speech to a joint session of Congress.

"One of the things that we have consistently done at the Senate Armed Services Committee, and some of us on that committee [have done] is to ask for an accounting to know the specifics of all the money that is going to Ukraine and how this money is being used, and also the timeline with which money is being dispersed, what equipment is it being used for," the Tennessee Republican said on Newsmax's "National Report."

Congress, as part of its $1.7 trillion spending bill, is considering allocating $45 billion to Ukraine, meaning the amount going to the war-torn country will be pushing the $100 billion mark, said Blackburn.
"We know that $45 billion is more than Ukraine spent on their defense in a year," she said> "We know what Russia spends on theirs, so it's important to have that transparency and that accountability."

Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea are the "new axis of evil," however, Blackburn said, and members of Congress do not want to see Russian President Vladimir Putin win a war after his unprovoked attack on Ukraine."

He attacked, she added, to expand Russia's territory, while the United States has responded and been supported by sending equipment and humanitarian aid "to the tune of billions of dollars."

Meanwhile, NATO and the European Union are facing war at their doorsteps and should not be depending so much on the United States to step in, said Blackburn.

She also pointed out that as long ago as the Beijing Olympics, Putin was massing troops and armaments at the Ukrainian border.

"We know from past experience with him whether it was going into Georgia or going into Crimea that he looks for those moments like the Olympics to make these moves," said Blackburn. "I recommended that sanctions be put in place at that point, and that sales of equipment take place to Ukraine. The White House chose not to do that."

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was quoted as saying the most important priority is providing Ukraine aid to defeat Russia.

He reiterated that in a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday, reports The Wall Street Journal, calling the aid "a direct investment in cold, hard American interests," and not being merely spent for emotional reasons.

Blackburn said there are other major priorities, however, including focusing on China and dealing with U.S. border issues.

This includes Tennessee, where the federal government is planning to send busloads of immigrants being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"In this behemoth of a bill they have money for other countries to have border security but not money to go build a wall and secure our border," said Blackburn, asking if the people who are being sent to her state are being vetted against having diseases or being criminals.

"The Biden administration has no plan for dealing with the end of Title 42 so this is becoming their plan," she said. "They're going to make every state a border state and every town a border town. It is disrespectful to the people of the various states, but they're thinking we've got to do something and get all of these thousands, as many as 15,000 a day away from the border, so they're going to transfer that cost to the taxpayers in Tennessee."

But Tennessee didn't choose to be a sanctuary state, said Blackburn, but the government wants to make all states border states "because they refuse to deal with that is happening at that southern border."

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