Arizona Senator Mark Kelly on Ukraine support and government shutdown
(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Arizona Senator Mark Kelly spoke with Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan Sunday about sending funds to Ukraine.
"The aid that we are giving them is critical. If this was to stop, they would lose and Putin would win," Kelly said.
During the interview, Kelly touched on his meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy when Kelly traveled to Ukraine for the second time. His first visit to the country was back in April.
"I spent some private time with President Zelenskyy just this last week...[trying] to reassure him that [the support] is coming. And...if we fail at this moment, there's a chance that...a year from now, two years from now, we wind up in a situation where we could be in direct conflict with the Russians. We do not want that," Kelly explained.
Later in the interview, Brennan and Kelly talked about the southern border and how the impact of a government shutdown would have on the border.
"The border in my state and others has been in a crisis for...generations, decades now, and we've spent billions of dollars on border security and...it's still a problem. I'm on the phone with mayors and sheriffs and the border patrol agents frequently. I spoke to Secretary Mayorkas about this just three times last week. They're making changes...border security is national security. I'm really concerned about next week of the government shutting down. If there's a government shutdown, border patrol agents are not gonna get paid...If we think it's bad today, just think about what that looks like."
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.)
When asked how the impact of the government shutdown would affect the real world, Kelly said, "The growth of our economy is affected. It's gonna affect our air traffic control system. If you're gonna travel over the holidays and there's a government shutdown...that's gonna impact you. Kids don't get meals when there's government shutdown, the military doesn't get paid. So, these things are connected."
