Iowa's Zach Nunn says United States shouldn't send any new taxpayer dollars to aid Ukraine

U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn says the United States shouldn't provide Ukraine with any new taxpayer money as Congress negotiates a funding deal to avert a likely government shutdown this week.

Instead, he supports seizing frozen Russian assets and using those dollars to help the war-torn country.

"I don’t think that any taxpayer should have to dig in their pocket to defend somebody else’s border if we can’t first defend our own," Nunn said. "And so I don’t see more money going to Ukraine from taxpayer dollars being the solution."

More: Iowa's Zach Nunn says Senate short-term spending bill likely DOA in House as shutdown nears

Nunn, a Republican who represents Iowa's 3rd Congressional District, told the Des Moines Register in an interview Wednesday that funding for stopping unauthorized crossings at the U.S. southern border "needs to be one of the top priorities" for Congress as it approves legislation to fund the government.

His comments come as the U.S. is days away from a likely federal government shutdown on Oct. 1, which would result in thousands of federal employees being furloughed while some employees deemed essential continue working without pay until the shutdown ends.

Two of the sticking points in negotiations are aid for Ukraine — which President Joe Biden and the Democratic-led Senate have called for — and funding for U.S. border security, which is a priority for the Republican-led House.

On Tuesday, the Senate advanced a bipartisan bill that would keep the government funded for six weeks and provide Ukraine with about $6 billion in new aid. The bill has not yet received a final vote. Meanwhile, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said border security funding should be included in any funding deal and aid for Ukraine should be considered separately.

More: Iowa Democrats say Republicans 'playing political games' while government shutdown looms

Zach Nunn says U.S. should use seized Russian funds to aid Ukraine

Nunn said the United States should instead seize Russian assets frozen after the country invaded Ukraine in 2022 and use that money to help Ukraine.

"There’s $300 billion of Russian frozen assets in U.S and European banks that can be seized today in the same way we’ve done with terrorists after 9/11 that can be used to rebuild Ukraine," he said.

Nunn has introduced a bill to do so, called the Protect Taxpayers and Defeat Russia Act.

"While I believe that Russia must be stopped and punished, with American families hurting, sending even more money to Ukraine to help them rebuild their economy is not a good use of our tax dollars," Nunn said in a Sept. 26 news release.

While running for Congress last year, Nunn said there needed to be "oversight" of any U.S. aid for Ukraine.

Aid for Ukraine has divided Republicans in Congress and candidates for the 2024 presidential race.

During the first presidential primary debate in August, candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy raised his hand to say the United States should stop providing aid to Ukraine.

"We are protecting against an invasion across somebody else’s border when we should use those same military resources to prevent across the invasion of our own southern border here in the United States of America," Ramaswamy said.

Other candidates, including former Vice President Mike Pence, have said America needs to continue its role as "the arsenal of democracy."

"Anybody that thinks that we can’t solve the problems here in the United States and be the leader of the free world has a pretty small view of the greatest nation on Earth," Pence said in the debate.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Zach Nunn says he opposes sending new taxpayer dollars to aid Ukraine