Democrats are reacting furiously to a new GOP proposal to rename Washington, D.C.’s main international airport after former President Donald Trump.

Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., unveiled a bill backed by six of his fellow House Republicans to change the name of Washington Dulles International Airport to Donald J. Trump International Airport.

While the bill likely has little chance of being passed in the current Congress, it did succeed in triggering the ex-president’s critics when the legislative text was unveiled on Tuesday.

‘Donald Trump is facing 91 felony charges. If Republicans want to name something after him, I’d suggest they find a federal prison,’ said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., whose district partially covers Dulles.

The rest is in the district represented by Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., who sounded off, ‘This is just another in a long list of instances where extreme House Republicans have shown how unserious & delusional they are.’

‘Let’s get to work on the real issues the American people sent us here for — not renaming an airport after someone who sought to undermine our democracy,’ Wexton said.

Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., said he was at the transit hub with worried families when Trump’s travel ban on terror-prone countries, most of them predominantly Muslim, was fueling ‘chaos’ at major airports.

‘One of Trump’s first acts as president was a racist Muslim ban that blocked permanent American residents from their own country,’ Beyer said. ‘I went to Dulles to try to help innocent people caught up in the chaos. I remember grandparents detained for hours as their terrified families waited.’

Reschenthaler’s fellow Pennsylvanian, Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., said, ‘Dulles is an old, ugly airport that no one wants to see. So I think this is a fitting tribute to [the 45th president].’

Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., called the bill’s supporters ‘children, competing for the attention of an abusive parent.’

Reschenthaler responded to Democrats’ anger, saying, ‘If Democrats spent as much time working for the American people as they spend attacking President Trump, our nation would not be in a state of chaos and weakness. Thankfully, the end to this nightmarish chapter of our nation’s history ends in November.’

He told Fox News Digital of his bill on Tuesday, ‘As millions of domestic and international travelers fly through the airport, there is no better symbol of freedom, prosperity and strength than hearing ‘Welcome to Trump International Airport’ as they land on American soil.’

Dulles is a busy international hub that’s critical for lawmakers and other Washington officials’ travel, particularly for airlines and routes that do not operate out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, its smaller domestic counterpart also located in Virginia.

Dulles was ranked 33rd out of 764 U.S. airports in terms of passenger traffic in 2023, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. With domestic and international travel combined, roughly 25 million passengers went through Dulles last year.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and an American delegation were forced to drive from Paris to Brussels to attend a NATO meeting Wednesday after his plane was again grounded due to a ‘mechanical issue,’ the State Department said.

The incident involving the aircraft, identified by Bloomberg as a modified Boeing 737, happened after Blinken’s travel plans were upended in January when the plane he was using to visit Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting encountered what the State Department described as a ‘mechanical issue’ as well.

‘Due to a mechanical issue with the aircraft, Secretary Blinken and the American delegation drove from Paris to Brussels to attend the NATO Foreign Minister’s meeting,’ a State Department spokesperson said Wednesday following the latest incident. 

The trip between the French and Belgian capitals is about a 4-hour, 200-mile journey. Blinken had met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Tuesday.

‘Secretary Blinken and President Macron reaffirmed strong support for Ukraine’s fight for freedom against Russia’s aggression,’ State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. ‘They also agreed on the importance of preventing the conflict in Gaza from expanding, including avoiding escalation in Lebanon; discussed challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China; and discussed efforts to bolster global food security through coordination on the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS).’

In January, the State Department said the U.S. Air Force sent a replacement plane to Switzerland to bring Blinken home from the meetings in Davos. After that event, the aircraft he was traveling in was unable to take off due to a ‘mechanical issue,’ Miller said at the time.

‘There’s a mechanical issue. I don’t know the nature of the mechanical issue, but he is in Zurich. He was scheduled to fly back from Zurich,’ Miller had said.

‘The Air Force has a replacement plane inbound. We expect him to be back… But several hours later than originally planned,’ Miller added.

According to Bloomberg, the Boeing 737 in that incident suffered a critical error after an oxygen leak was detected and it was not immediately fixable. The aircraft was subsequently deemed unsafe to fly.

Fox News’ Ashley Cozzolino contributed to this report.

Former President Trump and the Republican National Committee raked in a substantial amount of cash in March, possibly assuaging concerns among some in the GOP over the campaign fundraising deficit they face against President Biden and the Democratic National Committee.

Fox News Digital confirmed Trump and the RNC brought in $65.6 million in March and ended the month with $93.1 million in cash on hand. The figures include money raised by a number of fundraising committees.

‘President Donald J. Trump has again created a fundraising juggernaut among Republicans. While he has been the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party for less than a month, the RNC and Trump campaign are one unified operation and focused on victory,’ RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement. 

We’re raising funds and making strategic investments to get out the vote and protect the ballot. We are going to win BIG in just 31 weeks,’ Whatley predicted.

Last month, as Trump clinched the 2024 GOP presidential nomination and became his party’s presumptive nominee, the former president installed new leadership at the RNC, including Whatley and his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as a co-chair. Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita is simultaneously serving as the RNC chief of staff.

The new team quickly merged many operations with the Trump campaign, and launched a joint fundraising account titled the Trump 47 Committee which can draw checks up to $814,600.

‘Our campaign, working together with the RNC, has been steadily ramping up our fundraising efforts,’ senior Trump campaign adviser Susie Wiles emphasized in a statement.

And she argued that ‘our March numbers are a testament to the overwhelming support for President Trump by voters all across the spectrum.’

The March fundraising figure, which was first reported by Politico, is significantly more than the $62 million that Trump raised in March 2020 when he was running for re-election.

February FEC filings showed Biden’s re-election campaign outraised the Trump campaign by a two-to-one margin and enjoyed a formidable cash-on-hand advantage at the end of that month.

The Biden campaign reported raising $53 million in February, ending the month with $155 million on hand. 

The president’s re-election campaign has not yet announced its March fundraising haul, but its expected to be significant, after the campaign said it hauled in over $26 million last month at a fundraising gala with Biden and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton at New York City’s famed Radio City Music Hall, which was a new single event fundraising record.

Trump has been working to close the fundraising gap with Biden as the former president also struggles to pay his mounting legal bills, with just seven months to go until the November election.

Trump is set to hold a major fundraiser in Palm Beach, Florida on Saturday in a push to both close the fundraising gap and top the fundraising record set last week by Biden. 

Whatley, in a Fox Business interview on Wednesday, predicted that the fundraiser would bring in over $40 million. Many of the top donors in the GOP – including some who sat on the sidelines during the Republican presidential primaries or backed rivals to Trump, are scheduled to attend.

Biden Campaign Rapid Response Director Ammar Moussa, in a statement to Fox News Digital, charged that ‘Donald Trump spent his first month as the presumptive Republican nominee holed up in a back room at Mar-a-Lago with billionaire special interests while he continues to struggle with the kind of grassroots donors who are powering our campaign.’

‘Trump is spending what money he does have on everything but reaching out to the voters – and it’s obvious he doesn’t have the infrastructure, the donor base, or the broad appeal to win this election.’

Editor’s note: The following is an exclusively adapted excerpt from Cliff Sims’s ‘The Darkness Has Not Overcome: Lessons on Faith & Politics from Inside the Halls of Power.’ 

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence just sparked outrage by publishing an op-ed by a current intelligence officer claiming his experience as a crossdresser somehow makes him better at his job. Blowback over such issues is typically met with dismissive eye rolls from Democrats – and even some Republicans – who argue that conservatives should stop waging culture wars.  

It’s an ironic response, considering the aggressiveness with which the left has imposed its woke cultural ideology on American institutions. But regardless of where one stands on that debate – or whether one cares at all – the Biden administration has made reaching various diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) benchmarks a top goal in its National Intelligence Strategy, and we should consider the implications of this prioritization on U.S. national security.  

One of the most important roles of a leader in any organization is to set clear priorities. This is a particularly difficult challenge for the director of National Intelligence, who nominally oversees a sprawling enterprise of 18 organizations and agencies, and roughly 100,000 people.  

As a result, the opportunity cost of making DEI a central focus is that other national security priorities – be they intelligence domains, regions or hard-target countries, non-state terrorist groups, new technologies or deciding which personnel get promoted into leadership roles – simply do not get the level of attention they otherwise would.  

The question then must be, is this trade-off worth it? After all, diversity is undeniably important in the intelligence profession. Who’s going to have an easier time blending in on the streets of Tehran: an ethnic Persian for whom Farsi is their native language, or someone who looks and talks like me?  

Or perhaps even more relevant, when you’re trying to understand the circumstances surrounding a pandemic outbreak that originated in China, wouldn’t it help to have virologists on the team who are fluent in Mandarin? This was actually a real challenge that slowed down our ability to translate and analyze certain intelligence about the origins of COVID-19. 

These relevant examples of diversity are not, however, what the IC’s DEI focus seems to be about. 

The first time I visited the Central Intelligence Agency’s headquarters in 2020 while working in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the hallways were lined with graphics touting various DEI programs and initiatives and proclaiming the importance of each officer’s ‘identity.’ ‘TRANS LIVES ARE HUMAN LIVES,’ read one handmade poster hanging outside of the cafeteria. 

Before long, I had the surprising realization that a large number of so-called intelligence officers weren’t spending any of their time on intelligence, much less on foreign threats to the nation, because their entire taxpayer-funded job was devoted to political advocacy and bullying into submission anyone who dared not fall in line. 

The IC’s DEI office was viewed among even the most senior intelligence officers with a sense of fear and trepidation. Leadership in the office was the subject of numerous HR complaints, both formally and informally, for their hostility and secret police-style attitude toward their colleagues. 

But for the most part, people just wanted to keep their heads down and stay out of the line of fire at a time – not just in the IC, but nationwide – when getting crossways with the DEI police could be career and reputational suicide. 

At one point I wondered how things had devolved to such a point, only to realize that in 2019, when then-DNI Dan Coates was in office, he had allowed the seeds of DEI to be planted in the National Intelligence Strategy by touting ‘diversity and inclusion’ in its ‘people’ section. By the time we arrived in 2020 with a mandate, in part, to depoliticize the IC, those seeds had grown into a DEI forest. 

To new DNI John Ratcliffe’s credit, he made his priorities clear through both words and actions. China-focused intelligence spending was increased by 20%, and in numerous public appearances, statements and even a rare public op-ed, Ratcliffe stated plainly: China is national security threat No. 1. 

During the Biden administration, there have been some encouraging continuations of the China-focused intelligence efforts we began under President Donald Trump. But they have been overshadowed by global events spiraling into chaos on their watch, from Eastern Europe, to the Middle East, to America’s southern border.  

Yet through it all, their unwavering DEI focus has remained, naturally leading to the question, with real wars breaking out, why is the Biden administration continuing to wage culture wars in the IC?  

Even in the wake of a Chinese spy balloon traversing the continental United States, the internal magazine produced by the ODNI’s IC Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Office, was devoted to ‘the importance of words,’ like making sure no one’s feelings are hurt by the word choices of intelligence analysts writing about the malign activities of the Chinese Communist Party.  

The publication also urged intelligence officers to stop using words like ‘radical Islamists’ and ‘jihadist’ for fear that they might cause offense. Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton rightly responded to this by saying, ‘Intelligence officers should spend their time finding terrorists, not worrying about whether they will offend them.’ 

In short, the IC’s DEI efforts are nothing more than an attempt to impose far-left, woke identity politics on U.S. national security institutions. Conspicuously absent from their so-called diversity efforts are any mention of ideological diversity, or of the inclusion of officers whose religious beliefs compel them to empathetically but firmly reject the idea that gender is fluid or decline to comply with mandates to use gender pronouns that don’t align with biological sex. 

The lack of this type of diversity has already yielded concrete problems in the national security bureaucracy, such as the FBI leveraging intelligence requirements to collect information on ‘traditional Catholics’ in the United States. Would a more diverse intelligence community – one that respects traditional religious views – raise concerns about such intelligence tasking, or even consider targeting fellow Americans based on their sincerely held beliefs? 

The next leaders of the U.S. intelligence community should take concrete steps to ensure a truly diverse IC that focuses on clear, concrete national security priorities. 

The first time I visited the Central Intelligence Agency’s headquarters in 2020 while working in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the hallways were lined with graphics touting various DEI programs and initiatives and proclaiming the importance of each officer’s ‘identity.’ ‘TRANS LIVES ARE HUMAN LIVES,’ read one handmade poster hanging outside of the cafeteria. 

First and foremost, no one should have to sacrifice their religious beliefs as a condition of employment. We must protect the First Amendment rights of officers who do not want to participate in mandated DEI training or forced pronoun usage. IC contractors should also be required to protect those same freedoms as a condition of doing business with the government.  

Talent recruitment efforts should expand further outside of the Ivy League bubble – from where so many intelligence officers have traditionally come – into attracting more top students from state schools and historically Black colleges and universities.  

The so-called elite institutions have become woke indoctrination factories, meaning the IC’s pipeline of talent is being disproportionately filled with individuals trained to prioritize ideological conformity over critical thinking. And in light of the alarming rise of antisemitism on these campuses, it is increasingly hard to argue that such institutions are the best places to train a truly diverse secret workforce. 

Perhaps most importantly, IC DEI offices should be abolished. That money should be diverted to further bolstering capacity to confront the threat of a rising and adversarial China. And the IC’s personnel evaluations and career development tracks should focus on ensuring the best spies and analysts are promoted based on merit, not ideology 

Ultimately, the next leaders of the U.S. intelligence community should stand up to the DEI bullies – for the sake of both workforce morale and U.S. national security – restore meritocracy in the workplace and build a culture that unites around the collective mission of keeping the American people safe instead of dividing along the lines of individual identity. 

Comedy. Culture. Art. Literature. The great Scottish enlightenment. A historic role in the Reformation of the Church.  

All attributes listed on tourist brochures of Scotland. But as from this week, Scotland’s new law will crack down on the free speech that enabled all of this to flourish in the land in which William Wallace fought for ‘freedom.’  

On April 1, our ‘hate speech’ ban came into force, creating a new offense of ‘stirring up hatred’ against protected categories – including based on transgender identity and sexual orientation.   

Nobody likes to be hated. Very few people want to make others around them feel that way. But the law is vague, far-reaching and lacks clear parameters around what the state decides could be ‘hateful’ language. Could it be illegal to state facts about the biological reality of women? Could it be a crime to defend marriage between a man and a woman? Depending on the context, nobody knows.   

First to catch headlines for her vulnerability to the law is Scotland’s most celebrated and influential author. As if with the flick of a wand – or the tap of a tweet – J.K. Rowling has gone from beloved icon to villainous witch in the eyes of the establishment.  

For many years, her tweets upholding women’s rights to single-sex spaces – be it in prison cells, changing rooms or rape crisis centers – have caused a stir among the public. A vengeful social media mob crying ‘witch’ against her heresy against modern social orthodoxies.  

The new law grants legal teeth to those online pitchforks.   

It’s unclear whether Rowling has said enough to warrant arrest. Certainly, many have claimed to have felt ‘hated’ because of Rowling’s words – thus meeting the threshold for police investigation. Her steadfast grip of the truth has not allowed for cowardice. Just hours after the law came into force, she invited Police Scotland to come and arrest her for her beliefs if that’s what they wanted to do.  

Under the world’s spotlight, the Scottish establishment, following a brief investigation, quickly concluded that Rowling would not be arrested this time. The decision heralds at least some measure of Freedom of Tweet under the new regime. But while all eyes are on the latest victory of the feminist superstar, we mustn’t forget the others, in less prominent positions, who may also be vulnerable to the censorial reach of the hate crime law.  

Christians and other faith communities, for example, have long held beliefs about marriage being between one man and one woman. The same groups hold that no child has ever been born in the wrong body, and that they should be supported and empowered to become comfortable in their own skin.  

If such views were deemed ‘hateful,’ but were to be discussed around a family dinner table, trouble could ensue. The law doesn’t protect discussions held within the home, and children encouraged to report what they have been told is ‘hateful’ could get their parents into trouble.  

It’s not only the religious who might fear; but the irreligious too. Scotland has long been known for hard-edged comedy, with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival attracting comedians around the world to come and cut their teeth at the prestigious event every year.  

Comedy, by its very nature, pushes the envelope of the acceptable. Comedians are, after all, descendants of the court jester – the only man allowed to use his art to speak truth to an all-powerful king. Comedy requires the freedom to speak the unspeakable. The audience will soon decide the parameters of acceptability for themselves.  

It’s easy to see where this is all headed. Around the world, we’ve seen the consequences of ‘hate speech’ laws unfold upon those who express minority beliefs. In Finland, a parliamentarian and grandmother underwent criminal trial for a Bible verse tweet that questioned her Church’s sponsorship of a pride event. Her case now sits at the Supreme Court.  

In Mexico, two politicians from differing parties have both been convicted of ‘gender based political violence’ and placed on an offenders’ register, simply for upholding their beliefs about gender and pronouns on Elon Musk’s platform X. There’s nothing to stop our hate-crime law from doing the same thing.   

Under the world’s spotlight, the Scottish establishment, following a brief investigation, quickly concluded that Rowling would not be arrested this time. The decision heralds at least some measure of Freedom of Tweet under the new regime. But while all eyes are on the latest victory of the feminist superstar, we mustn’t forget the others, in less prominent positions, who may also be vulnerable to the censorial reach of the hate crime law.  

From William Wallace to John Knox, to J. K. Rowling – the Scottish narrative has always been defined and shaped by those who challenge the dominant orthodoxies of the day. We’ve known this a long while. In 1697, the last man in Scotland was condemned to death for ‘blasphemy.’ Thomas Aitkenhead, a 20-year-old student, was hanged for expressing disbelief in the miracles of the gospels. Blasphemy laws were a blight on civilized society. Nobody should ever have been punished for expressing a different view to the church.  

Yet on April 1, we introduced a new blasphemy law – one that punishes heretics against the new dominant religion of our day. The penalties are severe – up to seven years in prison. The uncertainty of which speech counts as ‘criminal’ will deter civilians from even questioning the mantras and dogmas of modern society. For those without the international support that Rowling yields, it’s a very concerning time indeed. The rest of the world must learn from our folly. Free speech is a value hard-fought, and easily lost. 

Former President Trump vowed to create a ‘Christian Visibility Day’ following President Biden’s declaration of ‘Transgender Day of Visibility,’ which happened to land on Easter Sunday this year.

‘And what the h— was Biden thinking when he declared Easter Sunday to be trans visibility day?’ Trump asked his supporters during a campaign rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Tuesday. ‘Such total disrespect to Christians.’

The presumptive Republican nominee for president promised that Nov. 5 would be ‘Christian Visibility Day’ if he is elected.

‘And on Nov. 5, it is going to be called something else. You know, it’s going to be called Christian Visibility Day,’ Trump said to thunderous applause. 

Trump’s comments came after President Biden celebrated ‘Transgender Day of Visibility,’ which is recognized March 31, and this year fell on Easter Sunday.

Biden has faced backlash after his annual day to honor the transgender movement fell on Easter Sunday, one of the most important and holiest days for Christians, as they celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Trump’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, previously called the ‘Trans Day of Visbility’ ‘appalling and insulting.’

Leavitt said the president’s announcement is an example of the Biden administration’s ‘years-long assault on the Christian faith.’

The White House issued a statement saying the criticism over ‘Transgender Day of Visibility’ coinciding with Easter was divisive.

‘As a Christian who celebrates Easter with family, President Biden stands for bringing people together and upholding the dignity and freedoms of every American,’ read the statement. ‘Sadly, it’s unsurprising politicians are seeking to divide and weaken our country with cruel, hateful, and dishonest rhetoric. President Biden will never abuse his faith for political purposes or for profit.’

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declared that he’s committed to opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the remainder of his term, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has pitched a novel approach to continue funding the war effort — but Republican holdouts in both chambers may still derail the efforts of leadership to secure a new aid package.

‘We’re funding what appears to be yet another forever war that will bankrupt future generations — all while disregarding our own security as our southern border remains open,’ Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., told Fox News Digital. ‘It’s absurd that overnighting more tax dollars to Ukraine is even a consideration. It should be totally off the table and replaced with a push for peace talks.’

Johnson revealed his intent to take action on Ukraine aid soon after lawmakers return to Washington next week during an appearance on Fox News Channel on Sunday night. It’s been a hot-button issue for conservatives, but he suggested a plan that diverges significantly from the Senate-passed $95 billion package with aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.

One potential piece of the House’s forthcoming effort to provide resources to Ukraine is the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act. This measure would have the U.S. liquidate seized Russian assets and re-purpose those funds as more assistance for Ukraine.

According to Johnson, this option is one of several possible alternatives that ‘we should do that make more sense and I think we’ll have consensus around.’

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., praised the plan on Monday night, posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he is ‘Encouraged to hear that Speaker Johnson will take up Ukraine aid when Congress reconvenes next week.’

‘This proposal or something similar, when combined with border security, would be a winning package for all concerned,’ he said of the potential components of a package spearheaded by Johnson, which could also include aid in the form of a loan to the country, as well as taking steps to decrease reliance on foreign sources for energy.

It’s unclear if Johnson’s plan for Ukraine would be attached to U.S. border security measures. Fox News Digital reached out to the speaker’s office for clarification.

Congressional Republicans killed a $118 billion package with aid for Ukraine, Taiwan, Israel and the U.S. border earlier this year, arguing it did not go far enough to tackle the ongoing border crisis. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and President Biden have been pressuring Johnson to take up the slimmer $95 billion package without border measures.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a staunch supporter of assistance to Ukraine, did not provide comment regarding the various potential routes being eyed by House Republicans. A spokesperson reiterated that McConnell’s primary focus is getting aid to Ukraine in the quickest fashion possible. 

In a Monday radio interview in Kentucky, McConnell said he plans to ‘put the main part of my focus in the coming years’ on supporting Ukraine and pushing back against Russia’s advances. He further claimed he would continue to fight ‘isolationist’ tendencies in his party, which have become increasingly popular among his Republican Senate colleagues. 

A spokesperson for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Ranking Member James Risch, R-Idaho, said in a statement, ‘Senator Risch has had numerous conversations with his colleagues about what should be in the supplemental, like his REPO bill to seize Russian sovereign assets.’

‘He looks forward to reviewing all the changes Speaker Johnson makes and what passes the House,’ the spokesperson continued. 

A House Foreign Affairs Committee aide told Fox News Digital that Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, hopes a ‘strong version’ of the REPO Act, which he helped introduce in the House, is part of the final package.

Other Republicans were more hesitant to discuss specifics without a firm plan in place, and it’s clear that the issue is still driving a wedge through the GOP.

‘Speaker Johnson has said that a targeted bill to help Ukraine’s defense will come to the floor once we get back from recess, and I will hold him to it,’ Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., told Fox News Digital. ‘Failure to support Ukraine plays right into the hands of Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran.’

Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., said, ‘We need to ensure that Ukraine has the weapons they need to win, and that Biden enforces sanctions on Putin.’

However, a number of Republicans remained skeptical of bringing any measure to address Ukraine aid to the floor. 

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, R-Va.,  told Fox News Digital, ‘America’s security must be our top priority. We cannot continue to borrow and spend money we don’t have for wars overseas while failing to protect Americans from the Biden border invasion here at home. At a bare minimum, any package for military aid to Ukraine should be fully offset and must include H.R.2 with performance metrics to secure our own border.’

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, slammed the facilitation of ‘an intractable, bloody proxy war,’ citing the concerns playing out on America’s southern border. ‘We must keep our promise to the American people and secure our borders, first and foremost,’ he added. 

According to Lee’s office, the senator considers these alternate Ukraine measures to be gimmicks that don’t address the war’s continuing with no end in sight. The liquidation of Russian assets and assistance being offered as a loan are tactics of misdirection that aren’t likely to offset spending or be recouped in the long run, his office said.

‘Regardless of how Johnson tries to mask more aid to Ukraine, it’s still more aid to Ukraine,’ Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital in a statement. ‘And it’s an insult to Missouri taxpayers that the House wants to give Ukraine oligarchs more money before they renew RECA and give radiation victims in Missouri and across the U.S. the compensation they deserve. We should put Americans first, not Ukraine.’

Several offices in both chambers are holding out on addressing the potential components of a House Ukraine package until they become more official. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a local radio interview Monday that he is putting ‘the main part of my focus in the coming years’ on opposing Russia in Ukraine, noting that it is ‘a worldwide problem for democracies.’ 

Though he will not seek a Senate leadership role again, McConnell told NewsRadio 840 WHAS host Terry Meiners that he would continue to serve in the Senate through his whole term and will continue fighting against the ‘isolationist movement’ in his own party and others, adding that ‘a symbol of that lately is that, are we going to help Ukraine or not?’ 

‘I think it’s extremely important that we do that. I’m not particularly a fan of the Biden administration, particularly the decision to run out of Afghanistan, which is like sending Putin a green light, but we are where we are, and the Europeans have stepped up,’ McConnell said. ‘Most of the money that we are authorizing is being spent in this country, some of it in Kentucky, because we needed to rebuild our industrial base for what lies ahead with Russia, and now China as a national security problem. So I’ve got this sort of on my mind for the next couple of years.’ 

McConnell said global democracy is in a precarious position, and not just as a result of terrorism experienced on 9/11 and beyond or the current Israel-Hamas war.

‘In addition to the terrorist threats, we have big power competition. The Russians have become like the old Soviet Union. The Chinese – who are tough commercial competitors – have now become national security problems as well. It’s time for the democratic world to be unified,’ McConnell said. 

‘This is a worldwide problem for democracies, and they need our leadership, and we need their partnership, and so that’s where I’m going to put the main part of my focus in the coming years.’ 

McConnell categorized his fellow U.S. senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul, also a Republican, as an ‘isolationist.’ 

‘

Paul has argued that the United States has no national security interest in Ukraine, and that it is not the United States’ role to defend Ukraine against its ‘longtime adversary.’ 

‘We’re not losing any of our troops,’ McConnell countered during the radio interview. ‘The Ukrainians are the ones doing the fighting. If the Russians take Ukraine, some NATO country will be next, and then we will be right in the middle of it. So, I think on the fact basis, this is absolutely what we ought to do, and we just disagree on this.’ 

‘I’m going to concentrate, as I’ve said, inside on this isolationist issue, and outside on trying to get us to the majority in the Senate,’ McConnell added. 

‘Do you feel like there’s an end in sight for the Ukraine battle?’ the host asked the senator. 

‘It’s very, very important. I think this is the most dangerous time for the free world since right after the Berlin Wall fell down,’ McConnell said. ‘People have always been reluctant. My party tends to be isolationist when there’s a Democrat in the White House. You know most Republicans voted against Lend-Lease going into World War II, and Pearl Harbor straightened that out.’