WATCH: Rand Paul Says Weapons Should be Sold to Ukraine, not Given to Them as ‘Gifts’

Rand Paul has a history of voting against relief packages for states hit hard by natural disasters. Of course, once his home state of Kentucky was hit with a series of tornados in December of 2021.

It didn’t take long, though, for the Republican lawmaker to return to his old tricks. During a Wednesday appearance on Newsmax, Paul complained that weapons are being given to the Ukrainians “for free.”

Host Rob Schmitt asked, “You’re one of the few fiscal hawks left in Congress. It’s a reasonable amount of money. Although, you know these days when they throw around trillion all the time, I guess billions don’t even really matter anymore. It’s just kind of like pocket change, isn’t it?”

“Billions do matter,” said Paul, “and I’ve insisted each time that any spending comes through Congress – whether it’s for war, whether it’s for peace, whether it’s for welfare, whether it’s for Covid – that it be offset. So I have introduced amendments in the past – these requests for arms, that they’d be paid for them.”

President Biden announces an additional $800 million security package to Ukraine.

.@RandPaul: "They should be sales, not gifts."

"If we are indebted to such a degree that we destroy our currency or our country, who will be the backstop then?" pic.twitter.com/409KWOobXM

— Newsmax (@newsmax) March 17, 2022

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The Kentucky senator continued:

“And this doesn’t mean I don’t have sympathy for Ukraine, or actually not in favor of selling them arms. But I think they should be sales, not gifts, and I think that we should not go further in debt because ultimately we are the backstop to the world. And if we are indebted to such a degree that we destroy our currency or our country who will be the backstop?”