RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR.: We can support Ukraine, but U.S. service members deserve more

As they combat inflation and navigate a choppy economy, millions of Americans are sitting around the kitchen table each month searching for ways to make ends meet. Hard choices must be made.

What happens in Congress should more closely resemble what occurs in our households. American families don’t have an unlimited line of credit or the ability to print money, and neither should our lawmakers.

One hard choice that lawmakers must confront is whether to continue to throw money at Ukraine to fend off the Russian invasion or to spend more at home on necessities for U.S. veterans and military families.

In Washington, these spending priorities are colliding.

That collision is taking place on the evening news. On one channel, you’ll find heart-wrenching stories, timed for the holidays, about how more and more military families are suffering from food insecurity because of inflation and a rising cost of living. According to the Military Family Advisory Network, in 2021, at least 1 in 6 military and veteran families did not have enough to eat. Looking merely at active-duty U.S. military personnel, the latest Defense Department data puts the figure at 1 in 4 who — with their families — periodically faces food shortfalls. At food pantries across the country, it is not unusual to see those who serve in the armed forces waiting in line for provisions to feed their families. It’s disgraceful.

Flip the channel and you’ll see Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who visited Washington last week brandishing a clenched fist for Russia but an outstretched palm for America. Assuring a joint meeting of Congress that Ukraine is “alive and kicking” thanks to assistance from the United States, Zelenskyy asked for more cash. “Your money is not charity,” he told lawmakers. “It is an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way.”

President Joe Biden reaffirmed his commitment to our ally, telling Zelenskyy at a joint news conference at the White House, “We are staying with Ukraine as long as Ukraine is there.”

Meanwhile, the competing spending priorities were colliding on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers were debating a massive $1.7 trillion spending bill intended to keep funding the government through fiscal 2023. The legislation will fund a 4.6 percent pay raise for U.S. troops and civilian federal employees (the largest pay bump in 20 years) and includes $118 billion to improve medical services for veterans. There is also a pilot program to reimburse service members for child-care costs and adjust the basic allowance for housing in regions of the country with a high cost of living. These are steps in the right direction.

However, those are nickels and dimes compared with the $45 billion in military and humanitarian aid the measure sets aside for Ukraine and NATO allies to counter the Russian invasion. That figure exceeds by more than $7 billion the amount initially requested by the Biden administration. Since Russia attacked its neighbor in February, Congress has passed three other aid packages for Ukraine — in March, May and September. Those packages total $68 billion, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. With the new round of funding in the omnibus bill approved, the tab of aid to Ukraine and NATO allies will exceed $110 billion. That is a staggering sum.

While Democrats remain largely united in support of assisting Ukraine, the issue has split the Republican Party. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who supports more aid for Ukraine, insists that defeating the “Russian invaders” is in the best interests of the United States. But in the House, several GOP lawmakers have criticized the Biden administration for not demanding an accounting from Zelenskyy of how U.S. funds are being spent.

For his part, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who has expressed skepticism about continuing to aid Ukraine, recently said that he opposed the $1.7 trillion spending bill.

What are Americans supposed to make of all this? At our core, we are a people who feel called upon to defend the little guy when a bully goes on the attack, and Ukraine certainly qualifies for such defense. But we also have to take care of our own, and that means doing right by those in uniform who give up so much of their lives to serve and protect our country.

Maybe this choice isn’t so difficult after all.

Ruben Navarrette’s email address is crimscribe@icloud.com. His podcast, “Ruben in the Center,” is available through every podcast app.