People do not want U.S. troops to have boots on the ground in Ukraine, so options are limited about what can be done, Rep. Jeff Van Drew said on Newsmax Wednesday.
"One of them is sanctions, and certainly, sanctions can be effective, especially if they're strong sanctions," said the New Jersey Republican on Newsmax's "National Report."
However, if sanctions are enacted after Russia invades, rather than before, they will "continue to be engaged, so that's a real concern as well," said Van Drew. "I would have preferred that we started out with some sanctions that showed that we were serious."
Van Drew said he is hearing from many people that they don't understand why there is so much concern over the Ukraine border when the U.S.-Mexico border remains open.
"Our border is just leaking everything you could possibly have come into the country, people who are criminals, people who are sick, people who are involved with the drug cartel," said Van Drew. "[Americans are] saying take care of our border."
The congressman further emphasized that he hopes President Joe Biden is not leaning toward sending troops into Ukraine, because he does "not believe that we should put our men and women on the ground" there again.
There have been some reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin is pulling troops away from the Ukraine border, and Van Drew said there has been "slightly more clarity" in recent congressional briefings on the situation.
"But Putin's a wily guy," said Van Drew. "You've got to be careful with him. You don't know what he's really up to."
Further, Biden and his administration made many mistakes, but it was a "huge one" to allow the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline to move forward without sanctions, particularly when pipeline construction was stopped in the United States, as that "makes us weaker and makes them stronger," said Van Drew.
"Who in God's name would ever do that?" he asked. "I don't know, but it's one of the many things he's done during his administration that makes absolutely no sense to me."
Biden's decisions on limiting oil and gas production have made the United States "get on our knees now and beg" for energy, and that was a "terrible mistake to make," he concluded.
Note: See Newsmax TV now carried in more than 100 million U.S. homes, on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Xfinity Ch. 1115, Spectrum, U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615, Frontier Ch. 115, Optimum Ch. 102, Cox cable, Suddenlink Ch. 102, Mediacom Ch. 277, AT&T TV Ch 349, FUBO and major OTT platforms like Roku, YouTube, Xumo, Pluto and most smart TV’s including Samsung+, Sony, LG, Vizio and more – Find All Systems that Carry Newsmax – Click Here
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.