Trust & Verify: Southwest Florida politicians on Ukraine

Published: Updated:
Southwest Florida politicians (from left to right): Congressmen Greg Steube, Byron Donalds, Mario Díaz-Balart, Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott.

As the war in Ukraine continues, lawmakers in Washington face off in political battles over how to stop Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

Trust and Verify looked into what our local Southwest Florida representatives are saying about the situation in Ukraine. They include Florida Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott along with Republican congressmen Byron Donalds, Greg Steube and Mario Diaz-Balart.

Senator Marco Rubio is the vice-chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and senior member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He posted a video to his Youtube page in January warning of an imminent attack on Ukraine from Russia.

“I really hope I’m wrong but I truly believe at some point here in the next month we are going to see something move over there pretty quickly and it’s not going to be good,” Rubio said.

That same month, Republican Rep. Byron Donalds described what he believed should be President Joe Biden’s response when faced with the question of a Russian invasion at a townhall in Naples.

“It should be a very stern one and really frankly a no-nonsense one,” Donalds said. “What we don’t want to see is the Eastern block returning under frankly Russian control with Vladimir Putin at the helm.”

Earlier this month, Sen. Rick Scott called the invasion “a blatant act of war” while addressing Congress.

“When Putin is threatening to undo our global order and seize wealth and power across Europe, Congress must act quickly and severely,” Scott said.

While united in the fight to stop Putin, our local lawmakers are divided when it comes to how the United States should help Ukraine.

Rubio and Scott voted against the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 that would give Ukraine nearly $14 billion in aid and extend government funding through September.

Rep. Greg Steube and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart voted in favor of it. Donalds did not vote. It passed and was signed by President Biden on Tuesday.

When it comes to sending American soldiers to Ukraine or enforcing a no-fly zone, Rubio said no.

“There isn’t going to be a deployment of American troops. You can’t have a conventional war between two nuclear powers. It’s too risky,” Rubio said.

Scott said no one should take ground troops or a no-fly zone off the table. He wants the President to either give Ukraine access to the planes and anti-aircraft defense systems it needs to defend itself, or enforce a no-fly zone. A press release posted to Scott’s website on March 16 reads:

“President Biden needs to make a decision TODAY: either give Ukraine access to the planes and anti-aircraft defense systems it needs to defend itself, or enforce a no-fly zone to close Ukrainian skies to Russian attacks. If President Biden does not do this NOW, President Biden will show himself to be absolutely heartless and ignorant of the deaths of innocent Ukrainian children and families.”

Congressman Greg Steube representing Florida’s 17th District put out a statement on Feb. 24 in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Putin’s actions must be met with severe consequences. His prior actions leading up to this moment also should have been met with severe consequences, but were instead ignored by President Biden and his completely incompetent Administration.

Our allies and adversaries alike see that US leadership is nowhere to be found. First the Biden Administration steps aside for the Taliban, now Russia. The Taiwanese are rightly very worried. Meanwhile, Biden is working to give Iran a pathway to nuclear weapons.

Under President Trump, we had peace through strength. Now, we have war through weakness. Today we see the result of the Biden Administration’s blunders. I’m sending prayers and strength to the Ukrainian people.”

Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, who represents Florida’s 25th District issued the following statement on Feb. 24:

“As the Ukrainian government has stated, sanctions on Russia must include sanctions on Rosneft and all of Russia’s petroleum industry, as well as its ejection from SWIFT. Russia’s unilateral and malicious decision to plunge Europe into war requires crushing sanctions from every freedom-loving country. Russian aggression against its neighbors must be stopped.

The American people should not have to purchase Russian oil. The Keystone XL pipeline, which President Biden halted, would have produced more oil here at home than the U.S. currently imports from Russia. He also suspended leases that would have allowed greater oil and gas production in the United States. Due to these disastrous decisions, Americans are suffering escalating gas prices and an empowered Russia, which has made the world a much more dangerous place.

Putin has once again made the case for a strong, united NATO to counter an appallingly belligerent and malevolent Russia. We stand with the people of Ukraine and must hold Russia accountable for this violent and despicable assault on Ukraine.”

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.