While the establishment Republican Party seems intent to push the United States into World War III, eight senators did not sign onto a letter urging Biden to supply military jets to Ukraine. Tennessee Star publisher and editor Michael Patrick Leahy explains why.
The Tennessee Republican senator, who served as President Donald J. Trump’s ambassador to Japan, stands out as one of eight GOP senators who did not sign the March 10 letter drafted by Iowa’s Sen. Joni K. Ernst and Utah’s Sen. W. Mitt Romney demanded President Joseph R. Biden Jr. give the Ukrainians the equipment they need to secure their own airspace in support of that country, invaded on Feb. 24 by Russia.
The Star News Network reached out to Sen. William F. Hagerty IV, but his staff did not respond to inquiries before deadline.
NEW 🚨 @SenatorRomney & I are leading 40 of our colleagues in urging President Biden to work with Poland and our NATO allies to expedite the transfer of aircraft and air defense systems—as well as additional support capabilities—to Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/p4HBTsGN5N
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) March 10, 2022
The letter came after the Department of Defense shut down Poland’s proposal to transfer its inventory of Soviet-era MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter jets to the U.S. air base at Ramstein, Germany, for further transfer by the United States to Ukraine. The second step in the plan was for the U.S. to backfill the Poles for 29 MiG-29s with American F-16s.
Ernst and Romney wrote that Biden had done an excellent job providing military aid to the Ukrainians, but his decision to stop the transfer of the Polish fighter jets to Ukraine was wrong. “While we commend the lethal aid that your Administration has sent to Ukraine thus far, we strongly disagree with your decision to delay and deny Poland the option to transfer fighter jets to Ukraine.”
The two senators wrote that using the Polish jets to confront the Russians in the Ukrainian airspace was time-sensitive.
“We urge your administration to work with Poland and our other NATO allies to expedite the transfer of urgently-needed airpower, air defense systems and other combat and support capabilities from the United States, NATO allies and other European partners to Ukraine,” they wrote.
At the March 10 Capitol Hill press conference announcing the letter, Romney said: “They want MiG’s. Get them MiG’s.”
Senator Mitt Romney says that the Biden administration must reconsider and accept Poland’s offer to transfer its 27 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine via the U.S.
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 11, 2022
He says there is bipartisan support for it in DC.
“They want MiGs. Get them the MiGs”.
🇺🇸🇵🇱🇺🇦pic.twitter.com/LEH3GA24Da
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