U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) sent a letter to every Republican member of congress on Monday, urging them to oppose the current foreign aid bill, which provides billions of dollars for Ukraine.
According to Sen. Vance, the massive foreign aid bill contains provisions that, he believes, will be used as a pretext to impeach former President Donald Trump, should he win re-election this fall.
“Buried in the bill’s text is an impeachment time bomb for the next Trump presidency if he tries to stop funding the war in Ukraine. We must vote against this disastrous bill,” said Vance on X.
Vance’s letter criticized the Ukraine aid package, which would give billions more of taxpayer money to prop-up Ukraine’s notoriously corrupt government, and outlined how it could be used to impeach President Trump.
Vance highlighted the December 18, 2019 impeachment of Trump, in which he was impeached by the Democrat led House of Representatives after he paused Ukraine aid.
Trump said the move was aimed at having corruption allegations investigated, but Democrats argued the Trump Administration was trying to pressure the Ukrainian government into digging up dirt on President Joe Biden.
Democrats justified their impeachment by saying that Trump’s decision went against the opinions of experts.
“The president froze military aid to Ukraine against U.S. National Security interests and over the objections of career experts,” said the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Trump’s opponents accused him of violating his obligations as president when he froze Ukraine aid.
The new Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, supported by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Alabama) and other Republican leaders, places money into the same accounts previously frozen by Trump.
The new aid package will not expire until September 2025, which would be well into the first year of Trump’s presidency, if he is re-elected.
Trump has previously suggested that, if elected, he will plan to end the war within 24 hours, which would likely require freezing U.S. aid to Ukraine.
Vance said Democrats are using the Ukraine aid as a pretext to impeach Trump again if he freezes aid in the future, on the same charges he was impeached for in 2019.
“If President Trump were to withdraw from or pause financial aid for the war in Ukraine in order to bring the conflict to a peaceful conclusion “over the objections of career experts” it would amount to the same fake violation of budget law from the first impeachment,” said Vance.
The foreign aid bill, which gives billions to Ukraine and Israel, has been supported by multiple Republicans, despite granting no money to secure the U.S. Southern Border.
Other Republicans, however, have come out in support of Vance’s position.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), supported Vance, and called out his fellow Republicans who supported the bill.
This provision alone is enough reason to not pass the bill. Congress should not be allowed to tie the hands of future Presidents. Any additional spending including this bill must be offset by cuts elsewhere in the Federal budget to prevent adding to the debt. I’d start with cutting the ridiculous green energy and EV subsidies and then move on to the new welfare spending Biden has put in place.
I called Susan Collins’ office yesterday and asked about this.
As usual if you ask any question about real policy there was no answer. They said they were unaware of the provision.
Maybe she needs to get staff who actually read legislation.
She’d vote for it anyway.
Gotta keep the defense contractors happy.