During a GOP lunch last week Senator Paul used the Heimlich maneuver on Senator Ernst after the hungry Iowan choked on a portion of pork chops. It helped that the Republican of Kentucky is also a doctor — but this week, as wars rage overseas and legislative battles tie up aid for Ukraine, someone may have to try the Heimlich maneuver on Congress itself. 

As things stand, President Biden wants Congress to cough up a multibillion dollar aid package, more than half of which, $61.4 billion, is slated for Ukraine. The minority leader, Senator McConnell, has said that the “best way” to ensure GOP support for Ukraine is for the Democrats to accept border policy changes that would limit migrant flows across the border with Mexico. 

A collapse of immigration negotiations could derail the security package and risk of a Republican filibuster. For Dr. Paul, the fault lies not with Capitol Hill but with President Biden. The administration’s $106 billion combined wish list for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and the border “continues the trend of recklessly spending money we do not have,” Dr. Paul tells the Sun.

“Our nation is over $33 trillion in debt, and continuing to print and borrow money to send abroad is fiscal malpractice,” says the far-sighted ophthalmologist.

If Americans see Congress as increasingly dysfunctional, hints of pushback from the Hill against the administration’s somewhat dim view of the legislative branch. As Dr. Paul puts it, “the effort to bundle all four priorities into one supplemental package is an irresponsible effort to force Congress’ hand. The American people should not be forced to fund the meatgrinder in Ukraine, nor any other foreign war, in exchange for a secure border.”

Senator Paul has condemned Russia for its illegal invasion of Ukraine even as he has called for a cease-fire. Since around April of last year, however, the Biden administration has pivoted from originally seeking to blunt Vladimir Putin’s invasion to leveraging the war for a strategic weakening of Russia — which takes time and money.

“Unfortunately, I have yet to observe any evidence that the Biden administration is open to diplomatic solutions to halt the bloodshed in Ukraine,” says Dr. Paul, adding that “as long as the conflict persists, there remains a risk of intentional escalation or miscalculation that could entangle the United States or other nations in the turmoil.”

The remarks come as Moscow’s full scale invasion of Ukraine nears a two-year mark and some prognostications for ousting Russia look bleak. NATO’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, while urging more Western support for Ukraine, said over the weekend that we should “be prepared for bad news.”

To these mixed signals from NATO can be added stirrings of discontent within the political echelons at Kyiv, for now in the background as the world’s attention turns to the Middle East, with some decisions President Zelensky made (or did not make) before and after the invasion.  

That, for now, is another story. Dr. Paul’s remarks are also at odds with a call from Secretary Austin over the weekend for lawmakers to pass the budget the Democrats want as well as supplemental funding for the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. And the faster an election cycle approaches, the more complicated things get. 

A recent Pentagon announcement that $100 million from the Presidential Drawdown Authority would be used for  security assistance to Ukraine stated that this would “strengthen our defense industrial base and create highly skilled jobs for the American people in dozens of states across the country.”

Mr. Austin echoed that politically-tinged refrain at Simi Valley over the weekend, but for some lawmakers like Dr. Paul it isn’t convincing. “The administration’s assertion that [the] war benefits the American worker and the economy is deeply troubling,” he tells the Sun.

With a quiet nod to President Eisenhower, he added that “our foreign policy should prioritize securing peace and prosperity for the American people rather than providing financial gains to the military-industrial complex.”

It is not only President Biden’s “fiscal malpractice” that grates on the senator, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and  ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee.  It is the administration’s overall foreign policy strategy, or “lack thereof.”

One of its key ingredients is sanctions. The White House’s policy of imposing economic sanctions on Russia has, despite the optics of success often touted by Secretary Blinken, in reality had mixed results. It could be argued that sanctions in the most ideal scenario are a pro forma punishment for bad behavior, almost like getting a parking ticket. 

Consider the case of Russian crude oil, which was trading above a cap of $60 per barrel since mid-July after production cuts by the OPEC+ group. In October, Washington sanctioned owners of oil tankers in Turkey and the UAE that were shipping Russian oil above the cap. Russia is skilled at finding alternative markets.

Guess where Mr. Putin is heading this week? Off to Saudi Arabia and the UAE he goes. “Russia adeptly adjusted to and evaded Western sanctions, even forging stronger ties with [Communist] China, Dr. Paul said.  “In this regard, sanctions have proven strategically counterproductive to U.S. security.”