Uproar ensues over '60 Minutes' report that the US is paying for salaries of Ukraine's first responders and subsidizing Ukrainian small businesses

The U.S. has spent billions of dollars aiding Ukraine as that Eastern European nation battles against a brutal Russian invasion, but the aid has gone beyond simply assisting the embattled country with armaments. "60 Minutes" has reported that the U.S. is purchasing "seeds and fertilizer for Ukrainian farmers and covering the salaries of Ukraine's first responders — all 57,000 of them." The report also stated that the U.S. is "subsidizing small businesses."

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. responded to the report by indicating that the U.S. should help its own. "Modest suggestion: Let’s support farmers, small businesses, and first responders in our own country instead," he tweeted.

"You don’t live in a country, you live in a tax farm for a global empire," BlazeTV host Auron MacIntyre posted.

"Everything you wish our government would step up and do for us here, they’re doing over in Ukraine, with our tax dollars," Michael Seifert wrote.

"Billions for Ukrainian farmers, first responders and Ukrainian entrepreneurs?! Why? The U.S. should be doing the tough work of peacemaking. We need aggressive diplomats if you want to avoid war. Where is the draft peace plan?" Richard Grenell tweeted.

U.S. lawmakers also sounded off about the report.

GOP Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona objected to how Americans' tax money is being spent. "Things that Americans' hard earned tax dollars shouldn’t be funding," he tweeted.

"NOTHING the federal government does is transparent to the American people," GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama tweeted.

"Meanwhile, nearly 200 people will die of a fentanyl poisoning in the USA today. Almost all of it flows over our open southern border. Pure insanity!" Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana tweeted in response to the report.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!