Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar (D) warned Tuesday that the U.S. supplying Ukraine with weaponry amid its war with Russia could be "disastrous," arguing that it would be difficult to confirm where the military aid ultimately ends up.
Congress is expected to approve billions of dollars in humanitarian and military aid for Ukraine this week to support the eastern European country's effort to combat Russia's invasion. Congressional leaders announced Tuesday that they had reached an agreement to include around $14 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine in a government funding bill.
But Omar expressed her reservations Tuesday morning about "flooding Ukraine" with billions of dollars in U.S. weapons.
I support giving Ukraine the resources it needs to defend its people, I just have legitimate concerns about the size and scope.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 8, 2022
Btw, criticizing and questioning is my job as a leader and a member of Congress. It’s the hardest part of the job, trust me it’s easy to just follow. https://t.co/XIioIlU5D8
The Minnesota Democrat's tweet echoed language she used in a press release last month prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"The consequences of flooding Ukraine with half a billion dollars in American weapons, likely not limited to just military-specific equipment but also including small arms and ammo, are unpredictable and likely disastrous," she said at the time. "It also threatens unbelievably broad and draconian sanctions that will utterly devastate the Russian economy, likely doing very little to deter Putin’s aggression while causing immense suffering among ordinary Russian civilians who did not choose this."
And in a Sunday tweet, Omar warned that the U.S. should not "strengthen our relationship" with Saudi Arabia as a response to Russian aggression in Ukraine. This came after Axios reported that President Joe Biden may travel to Saudi Arabia to repair relations and in order to get the Saudis to pump more oil, providing an alternative to Russian energy.
"Our response to Putin’s immoral war shouldn't be to strengthen our relationship with the Saudis who are currently causing the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet in Yemen," she wrote. "Yemenis might not matter to some geopolitically but their humanity should. This is [a] wildly immoral act."
Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition that has been fighting Iran-backed Houthis since 2015.
"I can hardly see where the principle is in going to Saudi Arabia and cozying up to another tyrant," @IlhanMN joined @robbysoave & @ryangrim on Rising to expand on her reaction to reports of President Biden’s possible visit to the Kingdom in hope it will pump more oil https://t.co/SrFqaRl5j9 pic.twitter.com/MXdIVjI8Ig
— Rising (@HillTVLive) March 8, 2022