Congress Should Stop Bankrolling Europe's Defense While Veterans Wait at Home

Where Did the Money Go?

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, American taxpayers have committed roughly $119 billion in military, economic, and humanitarian aid, according to tracking by the Kiel Institute. That figure dwarfs what most European allies have contributed, even though the war threatens their own borders far more directly than it threatens Texas or Arizona.

Washington keeps shipping Bradley fighting vehicles, Patriot missiles, and F-16 training packages across the Atlantic. The Pentagon's latest supplemental requests added billions more. Meanwhile, NATO's own statistics show that only 23 of the alliance's 32 members met the 2 percent of GDP defense spending target in 2024. Some wealthy European capitals still treat their own security like a subscription they can split with Uncle Sam.

The numbers expose the imbalance. Italy spent about 1.4 percent of GDP on defense in 2024, Spain about 1.2 percent, and Germany, Europe's largest economy, reached only 2 percent after years of public pressure. Poland and the Baltic states have pulled their weight, but Paris and Berlin have treated the alliance like an American insurance policy.

This is not isolationism. It is arithmetic. America is $36 trillion in debt. Interest payments on that debt are set to exceed $1 trillion annually. Every shell sent to Eastern Europe is a shell not stored for an emergency in the Pacific. Every dollar spent subsidizing German welfare states is a dollar not spent on armor for the troops we already have.

The VA Cannot Keep Up

The Department of Veterans Affairs reported that more than 250,000 disability compensation claims were pending at the start of 2026, with average processing times stretching past four months in several regional offices. Suicide prevention hotlines answer calls, but bureaucratic delays still leave veterans fighting red tape long after they left the battlefield.

Those numbers are not abstract. They represent men and women who volunteered after 9/11, deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, and now wait for knee replacements, mental health appointments, and housing vouchers. A March 2026 VA inspector general audit found that staffing shortages and outdated IT systems caused preventable backlogs in three of the largest Veterans Benefits Administration regional offices.

The 2026 VA budget request exceeds $350 billion, a staggering sum, yet the department still cannot fill claims examiner positions in Phoenix, Houston, or Baltimore. Money is not the missing variable. Management is.

Fixing this does not require a Manhattan Project. It requires Congress to treat veteran care as a core national defense mission, not an afterthought. Hire enough claims processors. Modernize the electronic health record system. Fire administrators who miss deadlines. The country that can move mountains of weapons to Ukraine in weeks can surely process a veteran's paperwork in days.

A Populist Defense Policy Puts Americans First

A responsible foreign policy starts with a simple question: does this make American families safer, because if the answer is no then Washington has no business shipping weapons overseas or asking American troops to guard allies who refuse to guard themselves. If the answer is maybe, we should demand payment before a single bullet leaves the dock.

That standard should guide the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act currently moving through the House. Lawmakers can add conditions requiring European nations to hit 2 percent of GDP before additional U.S. aid flows. They can block funding for overseas bases in countries that refuse to contribute. They can redirect savings to pay raises, barracks repairs, and mental health programs for the force.

And they can do it without surrendering the Second Amendment. Veterans are among the most law-abiding gun owners in the nation, yet some federal agencies still treat them as suspect because they asked for help. Too many veterans have discovered that accepting help with household finances can trigger a report to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The veterans who carried rifles in Fallujah should not lose their constitutional rights because a social worker filled out a form.

A populist defense agenda defends the right to keep and bear arms as a check on tyranny, foreign or domestic. Reforms in the 2026 NDAA can clarify that seeking VA assistance is not grounds for automatic disarmament.

Memorial Day Reminds Us Who Pays

Memorial Day 2026 fell on May 25, just four days before this column, and Arlington National Cemetery placed 265,000 flags on graves while small towns from Alabama to Wyoming held parades to honor Americans who died wearing our uniform. Those ceremonies are for the fallen, not for foreign capitals that expect American sons and daughters to defend them.

The best tribute to the fallen is not a speech. It is a policy that refuses to waste their sacrifice. That means a strong military, a solvent treasury, and a VA that works. It means expecting allies to defend themselves. It means remembering that the word defense starts with defending our own.

Congress has the power of the purse. It is time to use it for the people who actually fill those purses.