Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) listened to the Ukraine foreign assistance objections — and amendment attempts — of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and characterized the Georgia Congresswoman’s viewpoint as a “uniquely demented” way of looking at the situation.
Greene characterized American lawmakers supporting the Ukraine aid bill as “advocating for the deaths of Ukrainians.”
The Congresswoman said: “The most important thing you hear in Washington, D.C. is ‘oh we have to send Americans hard-earned tax dollars over to Ukraine and keep the money going to continue to murder Ukrainians, wipe out an entire generation of Ukrainian men so that there are widows, there are fatherless orphans, there are not enough men to work in their industry.’”
(Greene has also floated adding an amendment to the bill that requires any lawmaker who votes for its passage to be conscripted into the Ukrainian army to help the fight.)
Calling the American support for Ukraine “repulsive,” Greene said, “You know, shame on the American government.”
[Note: American military aid to Ukraine is targeted to support Ukraine’s self-defense against a Russian invasion launched by Vladimir Putin in February 2022.]
Rep. Adam Smith responds to Marjorie Taylor Greene: The sponsor of this amendment is basically saying if we pass this bill, we are advocating for the deaths of Ukrainians. That is uniquely demented way of looking at this. From a Russian propaganda standpoint, they invade and it’s… pic.twitter.com/EH0F7RKwTD
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 20, 2024
Congressman Smith responded to Greene’s assertions: “I want to focus on one argument of the sponsor of this amendment that’s basically saying that if we pass this bill, we are advocating the killing of Ukrainians. That is a uniquely demented way of looking at this war,” he said.
Laying the blame for the war unambiguously at the feet of Putin, Smith said: “Putin invades. Putin, as we speak, is bombing and killing Ukrainian civilians. And the only thing that is reducing the number that he can kill is the Ukrainians’ ability to fight back.”
Next Smith implied that Greene, as others in Congress have also said, is looking at the war through a lens of Russian propaganda. “So to look at this from a pure Russian propaganda standpoint — they invade, they bomb, they kill and it’s our fault for helping Ukrainians defend themselves. That is the argument here against supporting Ukraine and it literally makes no sense.”