Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed on Friday to continue providing Ukraine with aid to help the country fight against Russia's invasion, after recent remarks by House Minority Kevin McCarthy raised doubts about GOP support.
"Russia continues escalating attacks on Ukraine's civilians and energy infrastructure. The lessons for us are clear. The Biden Administration and Ukraine's friends across the globe must be quicker and more proactive to get Ukraine the aid they need," McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said in a statement on his website.
His statement comes after McCarthy told Punchbowl News on Tuesday that the GOP will not write a "blank check" for Ukraine if they win back the House in November's midterm elections.
"I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they're not going to write a blank check to Ukraine," McCarthy said. "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." McCarthy added that record-high inflation could make people reconsider supporting efforts to send more aid to Ukraine.
However, McConnell on Friday said that aiding Ukraine is in America's best interest as it sends a message to Russia and China that they can't "simply gobble up smaller neighbors."
"The Biden Administration and our allies need to do more to supply the tools Ukraine needs to thwart Russian aggression. It is obvious this must include additional air defenses, long-range fires, and humanitarian and economic support to help this war-torn country endure the coming winter," the Republican senator said.
McConnell continued: "For our part, the United States Congress has funded and approved ongoing aid on an overwhelming bipartisan basis. It is not enough for the Biden Administration to slowly, eventually get around to providing it. It must be expedited."
In May, 57 House Republicans voted against a $40 billion aid package meant to help Ukraine. Meanwhile, some GOP representatives have already expressed their stances as being against sending more aid to the Eastern European country, including Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Matt Gaetz of Florida.
The Pentagon recently announced a $1.1 billion security aid package for Ukraine that includes funding for 18 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS). The U.S. sent a total of $15.8 billion worth of military aid to Ukraine since the war began in late February.
Still, some Ukrainian experts have expressed their concerns about potentially cutting aid to the country if Republicans win the midterm elections.
"Statements of some representatives of the Republican party in U.S. media, especially among supporters of ex-president Trump in U.S. Congress to cut the military and financial support to Ukraine, do concern Ukrainians a lot," Maxim Yali, a Ukrainian political expert and foreign affairs commentator, told Newsweek, calling comments like McCarthy's "especially disturbing."
Yali also said that McCarthy's remarks "only intensify our concerns and fears, because he is not just one of many congressmen, but the leader of the party in the House of Representatives."
However, some Ukrainian officials are hopeful that the U.S. will continue supporting Ukraine regardless of who wins the House and Senate after November.
"We are of course very hopeful that these elections, regardless of the results, won't change the political attitude towards supporting Ukraine. We will still hope that there will be bipartisan support," Dmytro Natalukha, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, told Newsweek.
In his statement on Friday, McConnell also said that a GOP majority in the Senate "will focus its oversight on ensuring timely delivery of needed weapons and greater allied assistance to Ukraine, rebuilding and modernizing our military capabilities, standing up to terrorist states like Iran, and shoring up our defenses in Asia to deter Chinese aggression."
Newsweek reached out to the Republican National Committee (RNC) for comment.
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Fatma Khaled is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. politics, world ... Read more
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