Russia intensifies assault as thousands flee Ukraine
Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst has the latest developments as war continues in Ukraine.
Congress can play a major role in the war raging in Ukraine due to the unprovoked aggression by Russia. Whether or not the Biden administration manages to get its act together, there are important steps Congress can take to mitigate this foreign policy disaster.
1. Demand Europe beef up security budgets: All NATO nations in Europe must live up to their commitment to spend 2% of GDP on national defense. President Trump successfully gained great compliance overall. But after telling President Trump they couldn't possibly meet the target before 2031, Germany has now suddenly committed to do so as war rages in Ukraine. Congress must call upon all NATO nations to follow suit if they want the support of the U.S.A.
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2. Become a net energy exporter: Congress can and must reverse the disastrous energy policies of the last 13 months and return to energy independence. That means approving oil and gas leases, pipelines, and LNG export infrastructure. Europe must have an alternative to Russia to supply baseload power. Europe desperately needs energy. We can give them a viable clean alternative that doesn’t subject them to the whims of a radical Putin regime. Europe is learning the hard way that conventional and even nuclear war is the real existential threat – far exceeding climate change. Encourage more windmills and solar panels, but other reliable sources of energy should be readily supplied when needed.
3. Fast-track nuclear energy on our shores: Clean, efficient nuclear energy can supply domestic baseload power even when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine. Cutting edge nuclear microreactors may soon offer a promising alternative to nuclear storage that can operate using spent fuel from conventional reactors. Congress should return to an all-of-the-above energy policy that diversifies our energy consumption and keeps us from relying on political adversaries for basic needs.
4. Support the expansion of NATO: With Finland and Sweden now seeking protection from their neighboring aggressor by joining NATO, Congress should act quickly to support the expansion of NATO. Shoring up our defense in the north is good for Europe and good for America. Russia may not like it, but at this point, Putin is an international pariah.
Vladimir President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine only eight months after TIME magazine billed President Biden as ready to take on the Russian leader. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
5. Expedite the Aegis Ashore program in Poland: Modeled after a similar installation in Romania, the Aegis Ashore missile defense project in Poland is projected for completion in late 2022. Russia has long objected to the project, but as the Ukrainian attack suggests, the need for missile defense is real. Congress should consider expanding to additional locations in Europe.
Congress should avoid sharing American intelligence with China.
6. Reassess European military bases: Congress should reconsider the location of so many bases in Germany, as suggested in a Wall Street Journal piece by Trump National Security Advisor Robert C. O'Brien and NSC Chief of Staff Alexander B. Gray. "With NATO having moved east, Germany is no longer a frontline state. U.S. forces there, other than those manning hospital facilities and airbases, should be repositioned to outposts in Poland and the Baltics and bases in the Indo-Pacific," they write.
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7. Prosecute Americans who exploited Ukraine: To root out corruption and send a strong message to those who exploited Ukraine, Congress must conduct a serious investigation into American corruption in that nation and other parts of Europe, including Romania. This includes the Biden family dealings.
Regardless of party, political pull, or prominence, those who took advantage of Ukraine should be exposed. Regardless of what happens, the corruption is not going away. To understand where we need to go, we have to recognize where we've been.
8. Put pressure on the United Nations: As an aggressor guilty of serious war crimes, Russia should not even have a seat on the U.N. Security Council, much less chair it. Congress appropriates more money than any other country to the United Nations. They must bring enormous pressure to bear on that body to expel Russia from the U.N. Security Council.
9. Finally, it goes without saying that Congress should avoid sharing American intelligence with China. It shouldn't have to be said, but the Biden administration apparently believed leaking intel to our enemies was a credible solution to a nuclear problem.
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Ukraine's fight for freedom appears to be one of the few issues for which Americans show strong bipartisan support.
There is no reason Democrats and Republicans in Congress cannot come together to avert war and lead us out of this diplomatic debacle.
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