GOP Critics Pledge No More US Aid to Ukraine

Conservative skeptics of war financing in Ukraine predict this will be the last major U.S. aid package for Kiev that will be approved.

GOP critics of the package acknowledge that Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) won this round of debate by pushing $61 billion for Ukraine through Congress.

But they argue that if President Biden comes back with another request, he will leave empty-handed.

“If Ukraine thinks it’s going to get an additional $60 billion from the United States Congress, there’s no way,” said Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio), who led the opposition among Senate Republicans to inject dozens of billions of dollars more in the war effort.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Wednesday that the new military aid package for Ukraine will last until the end of the year, raising the prospect that a new infusion of weapons and funding could be needed quickly in 2025.

That could make Ukraine’s war with Russia and U.S. support for Kiev a major issue in the presidential race between Biden and former President Trump and in the battles for the House and Senate.

The presidential and House races are considered close, while Republicans are widely seen as favorites to win the Senate majority given a highly favorable map.

“Much of what happens next depends on the outcome of the November elections,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

Sullivan said Wednesday that there is a “deep reservoir” of support for Ukraine in both parties.

But he acknowledged Ukrainian setbacks in the war due to dwindling supplies, telling reporters that Ukraine has had to ration munitions and is under “severe pressure on the battlefield.”

“It will take some time for us to dig out the hole that was created by six months of delay before Congress approved the supplement,” he said.

There is support for Ukraine in both chambers of Congress, but Republican Party support in the House has been declining. Although House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) introduced legislation, he did so at risk to his political future. A majority of House Republicans voted against further aid to Ukraine and some conservatives are threatening to remove Johnson as speaker of the House.

A majority of Republican senators supported aid to Ukraine, and McConnell got nine more Republican votes than a package earlier this year.

Still, Vance noted that Republican support for underwriting an open war against Russia has declined significantly over the past two years.

“I think it’s going to be very difficult to get a package out of Congress,” said Vance, who argued in a recent New York Times op-ed that the military aid package approved this week will not turn the tide of the war.

“Fundamentally, we do not have the capacity to manufacture the quantity of weapons that Ukraine needs us to supply to win the war,” Vance wrote in an essay that caused a sensation on Capitol Hill.

McConnell, however, told reporters on Tuesday that Republicans who support sending more military aid to Ukraine are winning the argument with colleagues he called “isolationists.”

“I think we have turned the corner on the isolationist movement,” he argued to journalists. “I think we’ve made some progress.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) praised the bill passed Tuesday as “a very complete package” but declined to say how long it will keep Ukrainian forces supplied in the field. battle.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who voted for the $95 billion emergency foreign aid bill that President Biden quickly signed into law, says more future aid will need to be structured as a loan.

“The loan component will be larger, not smaller. If we want more for Ukraine in the future, it will be more like a loan,” he said.

To attract more Republican support for the package passed this week, House leaders structured $9.5 billion in economic assistance as forgivable loans to help Ukraine’s energy sector and infrastructure needs, as well as help others. war-affected countries.

For supporters of aid to Ukraine, the question is not if, but when, Ukraine will need another tranche of assistance.

Senators from both parties hope that the $61 billion approved by Congress this week will cover Kiev until November and, potentially, until the end of the year. This sets off a fight in the session after the November elections over whether to continue US support for the war at its current level.

“There is no doubt we will need another one. Whether or not we can make it through this year is a question. There could easily be something in the lame duck. We have to be there while [Russian President Vladimir Putin] it is,” said Senator Thom Tillis (RN.C.).

Lawmakers have little idea what to expect if former President Trump wins another term, given his evolving stance on war.

Trump urged Republican senators to defeat the first version of the $95 billion foreign package they approved in February, but in recent weeks, he has softened his stance against sending billions more dollars to Ukraine after Johnson insisted on structuring the economic assistance as a forgivable loan. .

Trump allies said the former president also played an influential role in convincing lawmakers to add the REPO Act to the package, which authorizes the seizure of Russian assets to pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

But the possibility of Trump returning to the White House is fueling anxiety among Democrats about the future of Ukraine, given his past statements.

A Republican congressional aide said Defense Department officials and European allies will begin crafting a new funding request for Ukraine in September for it to reach Congress in the lame duck session.

“I would expect it in the lame duck,” the source said. “If Biden loses, will he submit a supplemental proposal before Trump takes office? The new administration would have to be consulted significantly.”

Lawmakers who support funding for Ukraine are encouraged by the strong bipartisan votes that pushed the emergency spending package forward in the Senate and House.

Thirty-one Senate Republicans joined nearly all Democrats to get the package across the finish line — an increase of nine GOP members from the February vote. Ukraine’s supporters believe this gives them encouragement when they inevitably push for another package.

“This is a pretty overwhelming vote,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said of the 31 Senate Republicans who joined the vast majority of the Senate Democratic caucus in approving funding for Ukraine this week. “I don’t think anyone should question our commitment.”

Cornyn is competing with Senate Republican leader John Thune (SD) to replace McConnell, the strongest supporter of war support in the Senate GOP conference, as party leader.

Republicans say they are encouraged that Trump decided not to sink the Ukraine funding bill after meeting with the House speaker at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

GOP senators say Trump can be persuaded to change his mind on some issues and believe they can convince him to support more aid to Ukraine if he wins in November.

“I think it is [possible],” Tillis said. “I think [Trump] when he is fully informed and his administration is overseeing the execution, yes, I think he will support it. I don’t know if it would be one of his top priorities, but I think he will support it.”