Senate

McConnell cites Reagan in pitch for national security bill

by Tara Suter - 02/21/24 12:57 PM ET

File – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., walks to the chamber after a bipartisan group of senators released a highly anticipated bill that pairs border enforcement policy with wartime aid for Ukraine and Israel, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. Senate Republicans have been divided on the bill, but McConnell is committed to the measure. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) cited former President Reagan in a pitch for a national security bill in a Wednesday opinion piece.

“Today, much like in the Washington President Reagan faced, it has become popular in some circles to bet against American resolve and bemoan the global responsibilities that come with global power,” McConnell said in the op-ed in the Northern Kentucky Tribune. “Loud voices peddle the short-sighted and ahistorical notion that America’s interests do not extend beyond the water’s edge, and that abandoning our friends is the price of restoring order at home.”

McConnell then said he and his colleagues had “considered” the same responsibilities, and “in measuring the costs of America neglecting its leading role, the Senate chose to address the growing threats facing our nation and our closest allies around the globe.”

“The national security bill passed in the Senate will help rebuild and modernize our military, restore our credibility on the world stage, and give the current Commander-in-Chief, as well as the next, more tools to face growing coordination among our adversaries,” McConnell said.

The Senate voted last week to pass a $95 million emergency defense spending bill that includes $60 billion for Ukraine amid its war with Russia, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has indicated it is not going to make it to a vote in the lower chamber.

The bill’s passage in the Senate was also followed by the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. President Biden blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for Navalny’s death in Friday remarks.

“Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea are engaged in an active campaign to undermine the US-led order that has underpinned Western peace and prosperity for almost a century,” McConnell continued in his op-ed.

“From Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine to Iran’s persistent proxy violence against American servicemembers and our installations to growing Chinese aggression against Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners, these threats are serious, and they are linked,” McConnell said.