According to Rep. Jerry Carl (R-AL), there continues to be a full-court press for more U.S. involvement in Ukraine aimed at members of Congress in Washington, D.C.
During an interview with Mobile, AL radio FM Talk 106.5, Carl recounted an event he attended at the French Embassy where he experienced the efforts. However, he said while he was on the side of the Ukrainians against their Russian invaders, he believed more of an emphasis was needed on homeland security.
“Everywhere I go, there’s a sales job going on on Ukraine,” he said. “I had an event that I represented Alabama at the other night at the French Embassy. Everything there turned into Ukraine. This is Jerry’s opinion: I want them to win. I want to do what we can afford to do to help them win. But we have got a southern border. If we’re going to spend money, let’s spend it on the southern border. Don’t send it to Ukraine.”
“Now, we may have some aging equipment they can use,” Carl continued. “God bless them — let’s get rid of it. Let’s purge it. We’ve given the President a dollar figure several months ago, and he’s still working from that dollar figure. We can send some tanks. We can do some stuff.”
“You know, I’m just so worried about this country and the fentanyl issue and the southern border,” he added. “And now the big thing right now — the northern border. We’ve just woken up and figured out that while we’re down south chasing things around the border, they’re just taking a boat and coming across Lake Erie with fentanyl like it is an open road. So, now we’ve got problems on both sides, the north and the south. We’ve got problems in this country. Ukraine, again, I want to support them where I can support them, but I don’t want to support them with lives I can save here in America.”
Despite efforts to promote U.S. involvement in Ukraine, the Alabama Republican lawmaker said he believed the momentum was shifting against increasing the U.S. footprint in Ukraine.
“I don’t get the feeling I’ve gotten in the past,” Carl said. “I don’t feel like France, I don’t feel like Germany are doing their fair portion – put up more money. It’s their continent. I mean, they’ve got the most to lose here. They need to put up more and quit depending on the U.S. to do it all. We haven’t done it all, but we’ve done more than our fair share, in my opinion.”
“The attitude up here was all pro-Ukraine to start with, but I see it changing,” he continued. “I do start seeing people like myself who are saying, ‘Hey, I’ve gotten a lot of phone calls from people back in my district telling me don’t fund them, don’t send them more money. Let’s focus on ourselves. Let’s focus on our own issues,’ and you have to listen to your constituents … that’s an area up here – just a huge sales job, especially from the Democratic Party. I don’t understand that, but I understand they’re starting to get some pushback, too, on some of their TV programs.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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