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VIDEO: Waltz Presses Biden DoD on European Burden-Sharing

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday, U.S. Congressman Mike Waltz (FL-6) pressed the Biden Administration’s Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Dr. Colin Kahl on European burden-sharing during the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) hearing on oversight of U.S. military support to Ukraine.

“Did we successfully deter Russia from invading Ukraine? Did deterrence work?” Waltz asked. “We had a whole series of diplomatic, economic sanctions the world has ever seen. Not to mention, our ongoing security assistance at the time. Did that work?”

Dr. Kahl affirmed that “clearly because Putin invaded Ukraine, Putin was not deterred.”

Waltz went on to question the timing of the U.S. military assistance for Ukraine and the ongoing, unbalanced burden-sharing of that aid between the U.S. and our European allies.

The United States provided $30 billion in security assistance,” Waltz said. “The next nearest is Germany at $3.5 billion, a tenth of what we provided; UK less than $3 billion; France less than $1 billion, they’re in the hundreds of millions; and poor Estonia, has provided three times, just by percentage of GDP, what France has provided. So, all in total, even though the economies of the EU and the United States are roughly the same, the Europeans have provided less than half of what we have and we haven’t even gotten into the rest that makes up the full hundred billion. Is that fair? Is that fair and effective burden sharing from your perspective?”

Watch the full exchange here.