A Defiant Matt Rosendale Stands by his ‘No’ Vote on Ukraine

KGVO reached out to Montana’s lone Congressman Matt Rosendale after he was one of only three Republicans to vote ‘no’ on a resolution to send funds to Ukraine.

Rosendale’s vote drew harsh criticism from Capitol Hill, but he returned a call from KGVO News to explain his vote.

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“I will tell you, Peter, before I even get started, that there were a lot more people who wanted to vote against that resolution but were just too intimidated not to,” said Congressman Rosendale. You know, it's tragic to see the loss of innocent life and suffering 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.”

Rosendale remained consistent with his original stand against sending troops to Ukraine with his vote this week to also deny humanitarian aid and other funding, because he says our own southern border must take precedence.

“I cannot support the resolution to send unlimited military, monetary and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, when the United States is failing to deal with the crisis impacting the safety and well being of the American people,” he said. 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.”

Rosendale believes the people of Montana will appreciate his insistence on being consistent with his beliefs and his vote.

“Here's how I look at my votes, Peter,” he said. “I do what I think that the people from Montana expect me to do without any intimidation and bias at all, and then I come back out and explain it. When you look at this resolution, it literally was giving the President a blank check and a green light to have unlimited spending on military and monetary investments in Ukraine at the exact same time that we have a southern border that is being controlled by the Mexican cartels.”

Rosendale said he believes Republicans will retake the U.S. House of Representatives in the fall, and will then be able to stop more of President Biden’s spending plans.

“I think that once we Republicans take back the House this November, that is what it's going to require in order for us to start turning some of these things around, where the President recognizes that his party has taken him for too far to the left,” he said. “Then we're going to be able to do exactly what the United States House of Representatives is charged with, which is to develop a budget and appropriate funds. And, as anyone who has spent any time in the legislative body understands that when you develop a budget and appropriate the funds, then that is how you direct policy, and when you find policies that are not working, or not the role of government, then you don't fund them.”

The other two Republican Congressmen to cast no votes were Paul Gosar of Arizona and Thomas Massey of Kentucky.