Last week, Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) voted in favor of aid for Israel, Palestine and Taiwan, yet voted against aid for Ukraine.

Though Amodei eventually came around once the aid packages were combined, I still have one question: Why?

There are arguably principled reasons to vote against foreign aid. 

Israel is clearly more than capable of militarily and economically defending itself, as it recently demonstrated following Iran’s launch of hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles in its general direction. It’s also embroiled in a bloody and strategically aimless urban war that’s increasingly alienating its strategic partners. Considering the resources being expended by the United States against the nearby Houthis in Yemen to secure shipping lanes in the Red Sea, why not leave the defense of Israel to Israel?

As for Palestine, Hamas started the latest war with Israel. Germans were the aggressors in World War I and went hungry until they surrendered — why should Palestinians be treated any differently?

Taiwan, meanwhile, still commits a smaller portion of its economy on defense spending than the United States. The Chinese military is planning on being ready to conduct an invasion of Taiwan by 2027 and officially spends nearly 12 times as much on defense as Taiwan does. If Taiwan isn’t taking a seemingly existential threat to their sovereignty seriously, why should we?

Then there’s Ukraine, which remains a corrupt basket case even after making major strides to combat corruption over the past decade. It’s also neighbored by countries who would be more than capable of meeting Ukraine’s needs for military hardware and assistance if they hadn’t spent the past 30 years cutting military funding to the bone.

Most importantly, Israel, Palestine, Taiwan and Ukraine are all thousands of miles away from the United States.

If one believes foreign aid should be opposed, then, there are good reasons to oppose it across the board. Amodei, however, chose to support it — for every country except Ukraine. 

Again, why?

There are also arguably principled reasons to vote for foreign aid.

Israel’s air defenses were, after all, largely developed and built by American defense contractors. Consequently, nearly every dollar given to Israel to resupply their air defense system returns right back to the United States of America, where it’s converted into jobs and ammunition. That’s important because the past few years have demonstrated that we could frankly use the practice.

Palestine, meanwhile, is being bombed with American-made missiles and American-made bombs. The absolute least we can do is bomb them with American-made food. 

As for Taiwan, the cutting edge semiconductor factories on that island make it possible for you to read this column. The disruptions caused by the chip shortage following the pandemic are only starting to recede and, despite the efforts of both the Trump and Biden administrations, we’re still years away from bringing any high-end chip manufacturing back into the United States. If Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is meaningfully damaged or destroyed by war, the results will be economically calamitous.

Ukraine, meanwhile, is being supported by our European allies. Germany recently signed a long-term military support agreement with Ukraine, as did France. The United Kingdom is also contributing substantial amounts of aid as well. For now, however, Europe’s ability to produce enough weapons and munitions to support the Ukrainian war effort is currently even more constrained than ours. They consequently need us to buy them another year or two while they get their industrial and logistical capacities back in order.

Most importantly, our country learned the hard way leading into World War II that thousands of miles of ocean aren’t enough on their own to protect us. That’s even more true in a world primed to deliver nuclear armageddon from land, sea and air in under an hour to any location on the planet.

If one believes foreign aid should be supported, then, there are good reasons to support it across the board. Once again, however, Amodei chose to support it — for every country except Ukraine.

Why?

It’s not because Amodei is facing a serious challenge this year. His only primary opponent is Fred Simon, a doctor who ran for governor in 2022 on a platform that included opening Yucca Mountain. Despite raising nearly $2 million, he received fewer than 7,000 votes and came in sixth place. Once Amodei makes it through his primary, he just needs to defeat a few minor party and independent candidates to cruise to another term — no Democrats filed to run against him.

Could Trump, who infamously opposed aiding Ukraine, throw a spanner in the works and endorse Simon over Amodei? A majority of Republicans still believe the U.S. is doing too much to help Ukraine, after all. Trump, however, is no longer one of them — he stopped opposing aid to Ukraine himself before the bills passed.

So why didn’t Amodei?

This is an important question because, following the passage of the national security bill, many of Amodei’s Republican colleagues publicly vented their spleens regarding the quantity of Russian propaganda reaching the House floor. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), in fact, blamed the delayed passage of the bill on Tucker Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin.

If Amodei were a principled non-interventionist, I’d understand what principles he’s operating from, even if I don’t necessarily agree with them. That, however, is not what his voting record shows. His voting record shows that he’s only opposed to intervening in Ukraine.

Consequently, speaking as one of Amodei’s constituents, I’d like to know whose advice my congressman is listening to. Is he getting his information from American intelligence and military sources, flawed as they sometimes might be? Or is he withholding aid to our allies because he’s listening to faked stories about luxury yachts?

Thousands of Ukrainians are dying to know.
David Colborne ran for public office twice. He is now an IT manager, the father of two sons, and a weekly opinion columnist for The Nevada Independent. You can follow him on Mastodon @[email protected], on Bluesky @davidcolborne.bsky.social, on Threads @davidcolbornenv or email him at [email protected].