Sen. Mitch McConnell says bipartisan Ukraine aide vote a victory over isolationism

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Friday hailed the passage of the $40 billion military and economic aid package to Ukraine as not just a legislative victory, but also a personal one over the isolationist wing of the Republican Party.

The Senate passed the new round of aid on Thursday with an 86-11 vote. The only no votes came from Republicans who objected to the large amount being given and the prospect of being mired in a foreign war.

“I am interested in diminishing the number of my members who believe that America somehow can exist alone in the world,” Mr. McConnell told The Wall Street Journal.

“I think the fact that only 11 in the end ended up voting against the package was indication of success in convincing a larger number of our members that no matter what was being said by some on the outside that those views were simply incorrect.”

McConnel led a delegation of GOP Senators to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine last week. He also told the WSJ of how he lobbied the President Joe Biden to delink the Ukraine bill from a COVID-aid package to make it easier to pass.

The no votes came from GOP Senators aligned with former President Donald Trump, who promised to keep the U.S. from foreign conflicts under his “America First

One such Senator, Josh Hawley of Missouri, said the package was “astronomically expensive” and “shortchanges priorities at home,” like the U.S.-Mexico border.

Another Trump ally that voted no was Sen. Tom Tuberville (R-AL), who said he wanted a smaller bill with more oversight.

The same concerns about oversite were raised by libertarian Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who blocked an attempt to fast-track the bill through the Senate last week.

“It isn’t that we always have to be the Uncle Sam, the policeman that saves the world, particularly when it’s on borrowed money,” Paul said at the time.