Senate Republicans continue to agitate for further conflict with Russia as Americans honor those who served on Memorial Day weekend.

President Joe Biden said on Monday the United States will not send rocket systems to Ukraine that could potentially strike Russia; reports suggested the administration mulled whether to send these long-range missile systems to the embattled nation.

The Washington Post noted that the Biden White House considered sending Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), which would allow the Ukrainian government to fire rockets much further than their current military capacity allows. This has been a top request of Ukraine.

The White House reportedly had concerns that providing these rockets to Ukraine could result in Ukraine firing the missile into Russian territory and escalate the conflict.

Rebekah Koffler, a former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officer, said that giving Ukraine those systems could invite serious risk.

“Whether we believe we are climbing the escalatory ladder or not, it’s irrelevant, it’s how the Russians perceive it, because they are acting on it,” Koffler explained.

Senate Republicans have continued to ask for these “advanced weapons” so that Ukraine can allegedly defend itself, even though the MLRS missile system would go far beyond Ukraine’s territory.

“The Biden Administration’s decision not to send these weapons is a betrayal of #Ukraine️ and democracy itself. Ukraine is not asking for American soldiers — just advanced weapons to protect and defend themselves from Putin’s invasion,” Graham said. 

“Apparently, once again the Biden Administration is intimidated by Russian rhetoric. This is another terrible day in the continuing travesty of Biden’s foreign policy,” he added.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), who is retiring at the end of this term, discussed the alleged need to provide Ukraine these advanced missile systems. He said:

Based on my briefings and discussions this weekend in Germany and Eastern Europe, including with senior Ukrainian officials, I believe the administration should immediately provide artillery to Ukraine that can more effectively counter the Russian weapons.

Specifically, we should provide the MLRS mobile rocket launchers the Ukrainians are requesting. These are defensive weapons needed to protect Ukraine. Our allies and the US must continue to give #Ukraine the tools it needs to defend itself from the brutal Russian attacks.

Graham and Portman were two of the 86 senators to vote to approve $40 billion in military and economic aid for Ukraine. The 11 Senate conservatives that voted against the Ukraine aid noted that America’s generous aid to Ukraine would allow its European allies to freeride on the United States’ largess. The 11 Senate conservatives also suggested that America should risk entangling itself in this conflict and cannot keep spending without significant offsets to the tens of billions of dollars in aid.

Sending more military aid to Ukraine would come at a time that Americans continue to suffer from food shortages and rampant inflation. Portman has, ironically, attacked the inflation unfolding under Biden while serving as a chief architect of Biden’s second most impactful piece of legislation, the so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill, or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that the bipartisan infrastructure bill would add $256 billion to the national debt over the next decade.

As Senate Republicans continue to agitate for further conflict and Americans honor those who have fallen on Memorial Day, Brown University’s Costs of War project cataloged America’s endless wars’ human and economic toll. This includes:

  • 929,000 people have died due to direct war violence, including armed forces on all sides of the conflict, contractors, civilians, journalists, and humanitarian workers,
  • Over 7,050 U.S. soldiers have died in the post-September 11 wars, including in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and other conflict zones
  • 38 million people have been displaced by post-September 11 wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and the Philippines
  • The cost of the post-9/11 wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and elsewhere totals roughly $8 trillion, excluding future interest costs or borrowing for the wars
  • According to a 2021 study, over 30,177 American service members and veterans have committed suicide

During his speech outlining his foreign policy vision at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), said that his vision would be centered on keeping Americans “safe and prosperous,” while ending America’s decades-long wars in the Middle East. This serves in contrast to many Senate Republicans, who favor a much more interventionist foreign policy.

He has said that most of America’s veterans are from middle- and working-class families, and come from families with a history of military service.

Hawley said in his speech, “It is time for a new departure, based on America’s needs in this new century. Because the point of American foreign policy should not be to remake the world, but to keep Americans safe and prosperous.”

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3