House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has defended his statement on Ukraine military aid if the GOP takes back the House in the midterm elections.
McCarthy stressed that he aims for more oversight into the aid to the war-torn country rather than pulling the plug on Ukraine’s military aid.
His comments came after his statement of no “blank check” for Ukraine if the GOP gains a majority in the House made headlines the day before.
“It’s amazing to me that that somehow made news,” McCarthy commented, referring to what he said in an interview with Punchbowl News.
The Californian lawmaker clarified his remarks in the CNBC interview.
“Wouldn’t you want a check and balance in Congress? Wouldn’t you want this hardworking taxpayers’ money, someone overseeing it? We’ve got to eliminate the wasteful spending in Washington,” he said.
He further referred to the vacillations of President Joe Biden on providing military assistance to Ukraine when he was then-Vice President in 2015.
McCarthy back then suggested Biden sell Javelin missiles to the country to defend itself against Russia.
“In response, Biden told me that Germany wouldn’t like that,” McCarthy recalled.
“I then advocated that, well, why don’t we train them on the Javelins and keep them in Poland so they can move forward?” he said.
Republican Voices
His view echoed that of Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who also called for oversight of the aid.“I think there’s still broad bipartisan support for the effort,” he added. “We want to ensure that our NATO partners are stepping up to the plate and bearing the burden of the cost.”
Congress approved some $65 billion in aid to Ukraine this year. The temporary government funding bill approved by lawmakers late September and signed by Biden added an additional $12 billion for military and other assistance for Russia’s neighbor.
McCarthy claimed that the Biden administration’s disregard for domestic concerns the GOP views as priorities, such as securing the US southern border, prompted the intention to dial down the aid to Ukraine.
“People begin to weigh that,” he told Punchbowl News. “Ukraine is important, but at the same time it can’t be the only thing they do and it can’t be a blank check.”
Support of assistance to Ukraine gained bipartisan consent when the war broke out. But the voice of opposition has surged as the war drags on and amid reports emerge that the American economy is poised to fall deep into recession in the coming time.
Republican lawmakers have questioned the need for federal spending abroad at a time of record-high inflation at home.
