What’s Happening:

Taxpayers in the U.S. have footed most of the bill supporting Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion last year. The cost has skyrocketed into billions of dollars for the U.S. and the Joe Biden has pledged he will provide even more money and arms for Ukraine.

The elephant in the room for all this foreign aid spending is that U.S. citizens are struggling across the board. Biden’s government wants to keep bleeding them for a far away conflict even as he pledges to support the escalating war after terrorists attacked Israel.

A Republican congressman has a novel idea for recouping some of the Ukraine costs by getting Russia to pay the bill. Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) introduced the “Make Putin Pay” Act on Wednesday that would allow the U.S. to use frozen Russian assets to reimburse itself for aid to Ukraine.

From the Daily Caller:
“This uses their own funds to basically purchase munitions and weaponry to stop [Russian] aggression directly,” McCormick said. “And at the same time, it doesn’t increase our debt… this takes the assets that were frozen and uses it against the Russian war efforts.”

This is a big-dollar proposition that could save a lot of money. The bill points out that approximately $330 billion in Russian-related assets has been seized and frozen by the U.S. and NATO allies. These assets are part of a larger effort to impose sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

“[This bill] does a few things. It takes the Russian threat very seriously, it’s punitive [and] it means we’re all in on doing the right thing,” McCormick said.

The bill states that any funds from the frozen assets would be used to first pay back about $100 billion in U.S. debt already used to aid Ukraine. Any remaining funds would be used for future aid to the country and avoid taxpayer funds.

What stands in the way of this effort is Joe Biden who, according to the bill, has the authority to make use of the frozen Russian assets. McCormick believes Biden hasn’t already done this because he is scared of agitating Russia. McCormick has criticized Biden for his handling of the Russia-Ukraine war from the start.

“Joe Biden doesn’t do a good job of anything because he just doesn’t have the mental faculties to make a good case,” McCormick said.

The congressman said the U.S. must do the right think in supporting Russia and he is glad to step up and do the job that Biden hasn’t.

Key Takeaways:

• S. congressman unveils “Make Putin Pay” Act to fund Ukraine.
• The legislation turns Russian assets against its own war effort.
• The bill could save hundreds of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars.

Source: Daily Caller