Rep. Mike Garcia to Newsmax: Ukraine Cannot Be Priority Over US National Security

Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., told Newsmax on Friday, the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Americans are behind Ukraine's efforts to win the war and for the United States to provide military and economic aid, but it should not be a priority over interests at home.

"Fundamentally, what most Americans are struggling with is, we want to support Ukraine, we want to see Ukraine win, but we don't want that to be the priority over our own security and that 'win' comes at the expense of our own security," Garcia told "Rob Schmitt Tonight."

"And we've got a president right now who seems to be more interested in the security and the borders of Ukraine than our own security and our own borders, in this case the southern border of the United States."

Garcia, a member of the House committees on Appropriations, Intelligence, and Science, Space and Technology, said the goals are not mutually exclusive.

"We can help Ukrainians survive and win and ultimately take what used to be a pure threat down a few notches, but we can also look after our own security," Garcia said. "What concerns me is it's starting to feel like this is coming at the expense of our own security."

All the military aid given to Ukraine will need to be replaced, Garcia said. In January, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro warned that "If the conflict does go on for another six months, for another year, it certainly continues to stress the [U.S.] supply chain in ways that are challenging."

"We're able to take out a lot of Russian assets without putting an American in harm's way," Garcia said. "And we do have to backfill those things and we do have to maintain our readiness. And when the Secretary of the Navy says, we've got to make a choice between Ukrainian security and our own security over the next few months, that raises a lot of red flags for me.

"I want the Secretary of Defense [Lloyd Austin] to explain to Congress how he is going to make sure that he's prioritizing our security without compromising it while he's clearly focusing on Ukraine right now."

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