Rosendale votes against Ukrainian resolution, says ‘put America first’

Montana Rep. Matt Rosendale was one of just three members of the U.S. House to vote against supporting Ukraine in its ongoing battle against Vladimir Putin’s Russian invasion of that country.

Rosendale joined with fellow Republicans Paul Gosar of Arizona and Thomas Massie of Kentucky against the largely symbolic House Resolution 956, which is titled “Supporting the People of Ukraine.”

Montana’s lone Representative has said that he’s not comfortable with supporting other nations until America redoubles its efforts to keep the southern border secure.

“It is tragic to see the loss of innocent life in Eastern Europe. If the White House would have acted stronger toward our foreign adversaries over the last 14 months, today’s events could have been avoided. I cannot support this resolution to send unlimited military, monetary, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine when the United States is failing to deal with crises impacting the safety and well being of the American people,” Rosendale said in a statement to the Daily Montana. “The invasion of illegal aliens flooding our southern border must be stopped, the opioid crisis must be dealt with, energy dominance must be restored, and the rise in crime and inflation must be resolved.”

That message tracked with other messages Rosendale put out on social media during the past week, saying that America must worry about its own challenges before committing to helping other countries.

Rosendale also criticized the Biden administration for being more concerned with the well-being of Ukrainian citizens than of Americans he said are being threatened by illegal immigration.

“Now that Russia has begun their invasion of Ukraine, cries from war hawks on both sides of the aisle continue to grow louder to spill American blood and treasure in this conflict. We must resist these calls and put America first,” Rosendale said. “The United States has no legal or moral obligation to come to the aid of either side in this foreign conflict.”

Rosendale also said that the conflict does not serve our national interests in a statement posted previously this week.

It’s the second time Rosendale has drawn attention this week. On Tuesday, Rosendale announced that he would not attend President Joseph Biden’s “State of the Union” address, saying that protocols for the event had become too onerous.

He told The Washington Times that he felt it was inappropriate to impose additional measures just to attend the speech held in Congress. However, Rosendale appeared on television outlet Newsmax on Thursday morning to discuss Biden’s “State of the Union” address.