The House resoundingly rejected three proposed amendments to cut all funding for Ukraine and ban the United States from exporting cluster munitions while deliberating Sept. 27 on the nation’s defense budget bill.
Rep. Andy Biggs’s (R-Ariz.) proposal to “zero out” the annual $300 million Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative was shot down in a 330–104 vote, with 117 of the chamber’s 222 GOP lawmakers voting against the amendment.
Two proposed amendments filed by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) were also overwhelmingly denied. His measure calling for a prohibition on any security assistance for Ukraine lost in a 339–93 tally, with 126 Republicans voting “no,” and his bipartisan proposal to cut budget funds used to transfer cluster munitions went down in a 269–160 tally, with 132 Republicans voting against it.
The NDAA is among four appropriations bills moved to the floor by the House Rules Committee late last week, only days before Fiscal Year 2024 begins Oct. 1.
The House is approving or rejecting amendments to the four budget bills and “engrossing” those changes into a final bill that can be adopted. It is uncertain when those votes will happen but they need to happen soon—soon as in hours, not days.
The four appropriations packages are among the 12 bills that constitute the annual federal budget. The House has only adopted one, meaning it must approve the remaining 11, resolve differences with the Senate’s 12 budget bills, and get it all done by midnight, Sept. 30.
If a budget is not in place by Oct. 1, either the federal government will partially shut down for the 11th time since 1980, or it will be sustained at present funding levels through a continuing resolution (CR) for the 48th time since 2010.
A proposed CR to fund the government for 31 days failed last week. The Senate, in a 77–19 Sept. 26 vote, advanced a CR to temporarily fund the federal government through Nov. 17.
House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said he would bring a CR to the House floor by week’s end.
‘No Blank Check’ For Ukraine
But Mr. McCarthy also told House conservatives, spearheaded by the 40-member House Freedom Caucus, that he would remove from the bill the annual $300 million Ukraine assistance package, authorized in the NDAA since 2016, and put it on the floor for a stand-alone vote.The speaker withdrew that pledge days later because, he said, the State Department’s budget has related Ukraine funding, and untangling one from the other “becomes more difficult to do” than a simple amendment vote.
Such a measure would certainly not pass muster in the Democrat-led Senate, which includes emergency funding for Ukraine in addition to an annual $300 million NDAA allocation.
“At the beginning of this Congress, Speaker McCarthy said there’s not going to be a blank check to Ukraine,” Mr. Gaetz said. “But when we bring witnesses before us to ask them whether or not we’re complying with our own laws regarding end-use monitoring of material, they cannot say we’re even following our own laws. Enough is enough. I’m putting my countrymen first, and I don’t think we should send another nickel to Ukraine.”
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) said there is strong bipartisan opposition to “cut off any support for Ukraine as they fight to defend their country from an illegal Russian invasion.”
Ms. McCollum said the United States cannot “abandon” Ukraine and the European Union while Russian President Vladimir Putin” is attempting to rewrite the map of Europe through the use of force. He’s deliberately targeting civilians, as I mentioned, hospitals, daycare centers, and apartment buildings. Putin’s thugs are committing war crimes on a mass scale, and the United States and the other democratic nations of the world must continue to oppose him.”
Mr. Gaetz, noting the debate was “a respectful policy dispute,” said the United States has already sent Ukraine more than $115 billion in assorted military and economic assistance since Russia invaded in February 2022.
“The question is whether after $115 billion, it’s the $300 million in this bill that’s going to really kick the door in, and there’s been no argument that that’s the case because, of course, that would not comport with logic and reason,” he said.
Mr. Gaetz said claiming that Mr. Putin is a bad man does not justify sending billions to Ukraine when the United States has a $33 trillion national debt and the southern border with Texas “is wide open.”
“It seems some of the argument against my amendment is ‘Putin bad,’ which I concede. Matter of fact, Vladimir Putin has sanctioned me personally. So I don’t have to be sold on that argument. He’s a bad guy,” he said.
Mr. Gaetz said he could think of many ways to spend that $300 million “with what is going on our own border. There are police and firemen who do not know if their pension fund will be strong enough to support their benefits throughout their life. We do very little on that front, but we have underwritten the full pension of every civil servant and government employee in Ukraine.
“Abandon them?’ he said. “I just don’t think we should bankroll them.”
Rep Kay Granger (R-Texas) opposed the amendments, noting money in the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative is not sent directly to Ukraine.
“Rather, it pays for training and procurement of U.S. equipment,” she said. “Congress has funded this initiative every single year since it was authorized in 2016 during both Democrat and Republican administrations.”
Ms. Granger said Mr. Gaetz is right about the border, but wrong to relate one with the other.
“I argue that we should secure the border and partner with Ukraine to degrade Russia while never taking our eye off China,” she said. “We do not yet know how the war will play out. But I do know that voting for this amendment would send the wrong message at the wrong time.”
Mr. Gaetz said the $300 million annual allocation would not be onerous if Ukraine was receiving billions in supplemental funding. Saying “we can do both doesn’t really hold water” because taxpayers are paying for it across the board, he said.
“My argument would be, can we at least secure our own border first? How about that? How about prioritize our own people first before we start engaging in misadventures throughout Europe?” he said.
Bipartisan Opposition to Bipartisan Bill
Rep. Sara Jacobs (R-Calif.) did most of the talking on behalf of Mr. Gaetz’s proposed amendment to prohibit the export of cluster munitions, which President Joe Biden authorized to be sent to Ukraine this spring.Ms. Jacobs said the United States is “an outlier” among Convention on Cluster Munitions signatories in exporting cluster munitions, which she said “kill indiscriminately” across wide swaths and remain hazards for decades.
“Our partners and allies look to us and expect us to do the right thing to protect the marginalized, defend human rights, and strengthen democracy,” she said. “This reputation is what allows us to build and maintain international coalitions that further our goals. But if other countries don’t look up to us, and don’t expect us to do the right thing, we will be alone on the world stage.”
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) was among Republicans who spoke against Mr. Gaetz’s amendment, defended on the floor by a Democrat.
Cluster munitions are “a critical part of Ukrainians’ fight for survival,” he said. “The Russians have been using cluster munitions for a year-and-a-half, from day one” of their invasion.
Mr. Calvert said the amendment “goes beyond prohibiting the transfer of cluster munitions to Ukraine and would tie our hands and future conflicts” because it prohibits the United States from sending cluster munitions to anyone.
“It’s not hard to imagine, unfortunately, a situation where we might need to transfer these munitions to our allies and partners, for example, during a conflict on the Korean peninsula, or over Taiwan,” he said.
Mr. Gaetz noted that Mr. Calvert referenced an agreement to sanitize battlefields after the war concludes.
“When this is all done, we'll be right back here on the floor, appropriating money to de-mine,” he said.
Ms. McCollum, the lead Democrat on the House Appropriations committee, also rose in support of Mr. Gaetz’s amendment, which was additionally backed by House Armed Forces Committee ranking member Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.).
“The decision by the administration to transfer cluster munitions to Ukraine, in my opinion, was unnecessary and a sad mistake,” Ms. McCollum said, describing congressional visits to Laos, where the United States has recently paid “tens of millions” to clear Vietnam War Era munitions from that nation’s landscape.
