Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) declared that Biden’s $100B aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and domestic security is dead on arrival in the Senate.

Cotton calls it a slush fund and he’s not wrong. The largest disbursement would go to Ukraine. The aid package includes $60B for Ukraine, $14B for Israel, and $14B for the southern border. There is $7.4B for Taiwan and allies in the Indo-Pacific, and $10B for humanitarian aid in Ukraine, Israel, and Gaza. As you see, the amount allocated to Ukraine is disproportionally larger than anything else.

The senator called out the $11.8B for Ukraine, for example, that is included for Ukraine’s “non-war spending” on such things as funding the retirement pensions for Ukraine government employees. There is no appetite for that type of request among a large amount of Republicans. American taxpayers are supportive of assistance going to Ukraine to fight its war against Putin’s invasion, in general terms, but not to fund the operations of the entire government. Funding pensions is not the same as money spent to send military aid and financial support to keep Ukraine’s defense against Putin strong.

Among Cotton’s other initial concerns with the aid package are addressing “potential needs” of Gazans and billions of dollars to be spent on “services” for illegal aliens.

“President Biden’s slush fund proposal is dead on arrival, just like his budgets,” Mr. Cotton said in a statement Friday. “We will not spend, for example, $3.5 billion to address the ‘potential needs of Gazans,’ essentially functioning as a resupply line for Hamas terrorists.”

“Nor will we spend $4.7 billion for housing, transportation, and ‘services’ for illegal aliens in the United States rather than deporting them,” he said. “The Biden proposal is going nowhere, and Senate Republicans will take the lead on crafting a funding bill that protects Americans and their interests.”

It isn’t surprising that the largest portion of the funding goes to Ukraine. It’s been reported that Biden’s reason for asking for this aid package at this time is to continue to provide billions of American dollars to Ukraine. Perhaps more people would be open to it if there were accounting for how the money is spent. We know that Ukraine is a notoriously corrupt country and Americans want some accountability. Providing aid for basic humanitarian needs is one thing, filling the coffers for pensions is another.

The money going to Gaza will very likely end up in the bank accounts of Hamas. That’s reality. Hamas doesn’t care if Gazans starve to death or don’t have water. The terrorist organization has taken the money and used items such as pipes for the water system and turned them into rockets. Gazans were without basic necessities like running water long before Hamas began a war with Israel on October 7. Hamas is already slowing the process for trucks carrying humanitarian aid like food, water, and medicine from crossing into Gaza to get to the people who need it. So far 20 trucks have arrived and that is a drop in the bucket to provide help for Gaza’s population.

Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) objected to the money going to the resettlement of illegal aliens. He points out it will worsen the disastrous Biden border crisis instead of closing the border.

Giving the Biden Admin more money to fuel its disastrous open-borders resettlement operation is insanity.

It would worsen the border crisis, not stop it. 🧵(1/4) https://t.co/4gmdXXKnSt pic.twitter.com/Qcw93deuXf

— Senator Bill Hagerty (@SenatorHagerty) October 20, 2023

As usual, the southern border gets put at the bottom of the list. The White House budget director tried to turn it back on conservatives to say they don’t want to act on border security. Please. The Biden administration is rife with professional gaslighters. They think you are stupid.

Shalanda D. Young, the White House budget director, said the president will “not be lectured by those who refuse to act” on border security. “Congress needs to take action to provide sufficient resources for the border,” she said.

It’s interesting, now that Biden is running for re-election and even Democrats are starting to criticize his incompetency toward the southern border, that suddenly Mayorkas is sounding the alarm about fentanyl flooding into our country. Suddenly he wants more personnel and resources to go to the border. It has been needed since Biden ended the successful policies and initiatives that were put in place by the previous administration on his very first day in office. He always intended to open up the border and come what may. Pleas from border governors for federal resources, including additional personnel, have been ignored. Biden has given Governor Abbott in Texas the back of his hand repeatedly. Immigration and border security is a top responsibility of the federal government. Biden refuses to do his job so Texas has to act. Biden’s DOJ tries to shut Abbott down at every opportunity. What are border states to do?

Now suddenly everything is urgent. We see you, Secretary Mayorkas.

Republicans have a chance to lead by insisting on a more restrained and efficient budget request. Stop giving the short end of the stick to domestic issues.