The current debate over another aid package to Ukraine and a new one for Israel are exposing the deep ideological problems with both parties and the reason Congress is so unpopular.
Americans have long memories. They recall that the initial popularity of our engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq, and also how both ended with ugly withdrawals. Republicans in particular remember how badly their saber-rattling over Iraq came back to haunt them politically just a few years later.
Voters don’t want to see a repeat of Americans getting drawn into a foreign war while completely ignoring a bigger national security threat – our exploding national debt.
This past year, Congress racked up a $2 trillion deficit. Our national debt in total is about $34 trillion. That is a staggering amount of debt being carried by all American families, reflected in policies put out by the Federal Reserve that impose a hidden inflation tax. Congress is unpopular precisely because it refuses to address the debt crisis.
The idea that our debt problems should be one consideration when writing tens of billions in checks to Ukraine and Israel to defend themselves is an important one, yet there is resistance by Democrats to cut even one cent of spending to offset new aid packages. The new Speaker, Mike Johnson (R-La.), is right to find offsets for new spending.
But that is only one side of the equation. The other is the increased likelihood that the U.S. will be drawn into a more direct role in our proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, and perhaps even into the war in Israel. As horrifying as the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been, and as inexcusable as the Hamas massacre of civilians was that touched off the conflict in Israel, a direct role in either of these conflicts would be deeply imprudent.
Incredibly, out of 435 members of the House, it seems that only one represents what average American voters are thinking. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) recently declared on X, “If Congress sends $14.5 billion to Israel, on average we’ll be taking about $100 from every working person in the United States. This will be extracted through inflation and taxes.”
Massie’s position is not motivated by the feverish hatred for Israel that members of the left-wing “Squad” display. It is a valid argument that borrowing more money to send off to another nation will result in more debt for average Americans and might even exacerbate our inflation problem.
There was a recent vote in the House on H.Res. 771, to stand with Israel during this time of conflict. On it’s face, it sounds like an easy vote, yet there is a worry that this resolution may be used in the future as a justification for more direct involvement by the U.S. in the war. There are some fine consensus clauses in the resolution, including the idea that Americans “mourns the over 900 Israelis and 11 Americans killed and over 2,600 others wounded in Hamas’ unprovoked attack on Israel.” Yet the resolution was also loaded with calls for sanctions, foreign aid commitments, and a promise of future military support that may be interpreted to rubber-stamp boots on the ground.
The resolution may have the impact of broadening the conflict from where it is now to a larger swath of the Middle East. If this resolution is used by those who support war as a pretext to start a new conflict with Iran, Americans will be seeing our nation go right down the same dangerous and unpopular road we followed into Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Biden Administration has taken the odd position that it will veto an aid package to Israel, because Speaker Johnson has tied the aid package to a $80 billion cut for the Internal Revenue Service to hire more tax collectors. As Scott McKay put it, this puts Democrats in the bizarre position of being “devoted to the federal government’s perpetual expansion at the expense of every other consideration.” Biden’s absurd position also completely undercuts any argument that this aid is urgent. If he can threaten to veto it, then evidently there’s no hurry.
The average voter’s position on this issue is not especially complicated. People want to see Washington stop inching us closer to a new war while also spending hundreds of billions we don’t have. This debate has exposed some serious dysfunction in Congress emanating from both parties.
Brian Darling is former Counsel for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).