The Republican Party is split when it comes to supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia, which will reach the one-year mark on Feb. 24.
“America is in a state of managed decline, and it will exacerbate if we continue to hemorrhage taxpayer dollars toward a foreign war,” continued Gaetz. “We must suspend all foreign aid for the War in Ukraine and demand that all combatants in this conflict reach a peace agreement immediately.”
‘Greatly Exaggerated’
“No, I support Ukraine,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told CNN when asked if he backs Gaetz’s resolution. “I don’t support a blank check, though. We spent $100 billion here, we want to win. I think the actions that President Biden has taken are a bit too late.”“Reports about the death of Republican support for strong American leadership in the world have been greatly exaggerated,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) at the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 17. “My party’s leaders overwhelmingly support a strong, involved America and a robust trans-Atlantic alliance. Don’t look at Twitter, look at people in power.”
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Ms.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told CNN anchor Jake Tapper on Feb. 22 that “about 90 percent” of the GOP caucus supports “giving Ukraine the tools it needs to win the war.”
Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” on Feb. 19, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called for the continuation of support to the Eastern European country.
“The British are training Ukrainian pilots. I believe a decision will be imminent here when we get back to Washington that the administration will start training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16. They need the weapons system,” he said. The Biden administration has refused to transfer fighter jets to Ukraine.
Graham also responded to Vice President Kamala Harris telling the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 18 that Russia has committed crimes against humanity.
“And let me just stress this—how can you call this war by Russia a crime against humanity, and that’s what the vice president did in Munich—now, we’re talking about Germany. We’re talking about the vice president of the United States declaring that Russia is involved in crimes against humanity in Germany, of all places—you know, echoes of World War II. How can she say that—and she is correct—and not give the victim of their crime against humanity the defensive weapons they need to stop the crime?
“So we need to do two things quickly, make Russia a state sponsor of terrorism under U.S. law, which would make it harder for China to give weapons to Russia, and we need to start training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 now.”
Congress has appropriated over $120 billion and the Biden administration has pledged almost $80 billion to Ukraine. Of the appropriations, $46.6 billion has been for military assistance.
During Biden’s visit to Ukraine and Poland this week, a segment of Republicans expressed criticism of U.S. support for Ukraine.
The schism in the GOP when it comes to Ukraine isn’t black and white, however. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and 22 other Republicans have called for oversight of U.S. assistance to Ukraine.
Providing security and humanitarian assistance for warfighting and reconstruction purposes comes with an inherent risk of fraud, waste, and abuse,” they wrote. “The United States must identify these risks and develop oversight mechanisms to mitigate them.”
Four of the Republicans who signed the letter are co-sponsors of the Ukraine Fatigue Resolution.
2024
“This is a war about freedom, and it’s a war we have to win,” former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley told an audience in Iowa on Feb. 20.However, Haley said that supporting Ukraine “doesn’t mean we ever should put troops on the ground, and it doesn’t mean we should ever write blank checks. I am never for giving money; I am for giving military equipment [and] ammunition so that they can do the job themselves.”
Former President Donald Trump, who has sought to mediate a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, blasted Biden’s trip to Ukraine.
Multimillionaire entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy lamented Biden going to Kyiv and not the scene of the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
Buttigieg visited East Palestine on Feb. 23.
On Feb. 22, Ramaswamy blasted the U.S. for sending money to Ukraine as opposed to spending it on a certain domestic issue.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to announce his candidacy for the White House in the coming months, has decried U.S. support for Ukraine.
“They [the Biden administration] have effectively a blank-check policy with no clear strategic objective identified,” DeSantis said. “These things can escalate. And I don’t think it’s in our interest to be getting into a proxy war with China getting involved over things like the borderlands or over Crimea.” The United States has warned China not to give arms to Russia for its war in Ukraine.
