Ukraine Support Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. MACKENZIE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Mast for yielding time to speak on our national security and this critically important issue of supporting our partners and allies and deterring our adversaries.

As a member of both the Foreign Affairs Committee and Homeland Security Committee, I have strong opinions on this topic. It is a fact that Russia and its actions continue to threaten American allies, innocent civilians, and the global economy.

This is an issue that demands serious conversations, bipartisan dialogue, and a sincere interest in advancing our Nation's foreign policy interests, including achieving peace in Ukraine.

What we are seeing, though, is that as we are working through this legislative process and trying to find ways where we can reject Russia's unprovoked aggressions and support Ukraine's right to freedom, peace, and self-determination, what we are doing is looking at legislation that is outdated and insufficient to achieve this goal.

Our Nation, since the beginning of this conflict, has supported Ukraine with over $137 billion in total security assistance. We have also won commitments from our European allies to finally step up their defense contributions.

The goal should now be to achieve a final end to this conflict and secure lasting, honorable peace for the Ukrainian people. This bill falls far short of that.

What we are seeing is that this legislation makes a number of mistakes. First, it cuts funding to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. This bill states that it would extend security assistance at $300 million for fiscal years `26 and `27. However, Congress already passed funding in last year's NDAA that funds security assistance at a level of roughly $800 million across the same fiscal years.

Potentially worse still, the bill calls for NATO allies to dedicate at least 2 percent of their GDP to national defense. As I mentioned, under this administration, we have made the historic achievement of getting our NATO allies to commit to 5 percent. This bill literally moves us backward, and a decrease in NATO defense member spending would be the result.

Second, it also includes outdated and redundant provisions. Sections of this bill attempt to authorize programs like foreign military financing for allies and partners in the region. Again, Congress already passed similar provisions in the NDAA through the Baltic Security Initiative.

Finally, there are a number of drafting errors that are too numerous to state, but again, this outdated approach is not what is needed at this time.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage Members to do the right thing, to come together in a bipartisan way. We can work in an honest fashion and a serious way to get the achievements that we are actually looking for for America's interests and also for our partners and allies around the world.

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