U.S. Rep. Andy Barr: National security package will protect American interests. | Opinion

Today, the United States is staring down the most dangerous set of national security threats it has faced since before World War II. The Biden Administration’s chaotic retreat from Afghanistan and its removal of sanctions invited Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Biden’s policy of chasing a second Iran nuclear deal and reversing the Trump Administration’s maximum pressure campaign delivered billions of dollars in sanctions relief to Tehran, enabling it to finance Hamas terrorists who carried out the deadliest attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

After unleashing a global pandemic on the world, covering up its origins and weaponizing global supply chains, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has stepped up its espionage activities, establishing a network of clandestine police stations in our cities, setting up a surveillance base 90 miles off our coast, and directing a spy balloon to fly across over a dozen sensitive U.S. military sites. In the Pacific, it has rapidly accelerated the buildup of its military, increased naval and air exercises in the Taiwan Strait, and threatened an invasion of Taiwan by 2027.

Finally, as a result of Executive Branch actions opening the southern border, over 10 million illegal migrants, including over a thousand individuals on the FBI Terror Watch List, have been encountered at our border since Joe Biden took office. And this doesn’t even include the nearly 2 million known got-aways.

It’s within this context that the national security package providing assistance to Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific must be understood—as a proactive and necessary strategy to protect American interests and affirm the United States’ commitment to freedom, democracy, and global security. It’s why I supported the supplemental funding, which includes $23.2 billion exclusively dedicated to replenishing U.S. weapons, stocks, and facilities. This funding will be spent entirely inside the United States and will directly benefit American companies, workers and our own national security, underscoring not only our commitment to supporting our allies, but to rebuilding the U.S. defense industrial base.

Since Russia’s invasion, Ukraine has demonstrated to the world that they can and will fight for themselves. Providing Ukraine with the military capability to defend itself now is an investment in the future peace and stability of Europe, the economy of which is inextricably linked to our own. A victorious Russia would threaten further expansion into NATO territory, which would obligate the United States to defend our allies in a far more costly and direct military conflict with Russia. Every day that Ukrainian soldiers are fighting Russians is a day that American troops are not. No foreign country, even an ally, should receive a blank check from American taxpayers. But even with the supplemental, the EU and its member states are still contributing more than the United States to Ukraine.

To defend Israel—our greatest ally in the Middle East and a beacon of freedom and democracy in an unstable part of the world—I proudly supported $26 billion in assistance, including $4 billion to replenish the Iron Dome and David Sling missile defense systems. American resolve in supporting Israel is needed now more than ever. A strong Israel is an important counterweight and powerful deterrent to Iran, which remains an existential threat to Israel and, ultimately, the world.

Finally, the package I supported includes funding to deter the CCP. The CCP’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s democratic self-determination pose a severe challenge to regional stability and American national security. Our commitment in the Indo-Pacific sends a strong message that the United States and our democratic allies will actively resist authoritarian expansion.

We still have more work to do. The humanitarian, public safety and national security crisis at our border is an outrage. That’s why I have voted multiple times for H.R. 2, the strongest border security bill in history. That legislation would restart border wall construction, surge resources to Customs and Border Patrol, end catch and release, reinstate the Remain in Mexico policy and streamline our asylum rules to reduce illegal immigration. It’s a disgrace that Senate Democrats continue to block that bill and a handful of House Republicans prevented H.R. 2 from being attached to this package.

But we can’t wait another nine months to address the foreign threats we face now. Supporting the supplemental funding is more than a financial decision—it’s a strategic investment in our core principles, in the security that shields us, and in a global order that has fostered decades of peace and prosperity. It’s also a commitment to strengthening our defense industrial base, bolstering our economy, creating jobs, and maintaining the unparalleled strength of our military. In supporting this funding, my objective is unequivocal: to defend our allies, confront authoritarianism head-on, and ensure a future where freedom and democracy stand invincible.

Andy Barr represents Kentucky’s Sixth District in the U.S. House of Representatives.