Republican leaders wrestle with GOP splinter on Ukraine aid on Capitol Hill

By Lauren Fox and Melanie Zanona, CNN

As the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine approaches, the Republican Party finds itself bitterly divided on Capitol Hill over whether the US should continue aiding Ukraine — a dispute that is only expected to intensify in the months ahead even as GOP leaders have sought to downplay it.

On Tuesday, a group of House Republicans led a congressional delegation to Ukraine to reaffirm the United States’ commitment to the war-torn nation, after promoting a similar message at the global Munich Security Conference over the weekend. But back home, the GOP’s isolationist wing spent the week publicly bashing President Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine and re-upped their calls to end military and financial aid to the country.

It’s a dynamic that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has had to navigate carefully. The California Republican recently told CNN he does not support a resolution from GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida declaring congressional “fatigue” over supporting Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, which shows no signs of abating. But McCarthy reiterated he would not automatically rubber stamp whatever aid package the Biden administration requests — a clear sign that it’s going to be far more difficult to pass any further Ukraine funding under a GOP-led House.

“No, I support Ukraine,” McCarthy said when asked by CNN whether he supports Gaetz’s measure. “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.”

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — who attended the Munich Security Conference over the weekend — has given an even sharper message, making it his personal mission of sorts to try and quell the more isolationist voices in his party and assure the Ukrainians that the US will not abandon them.

“Reports about the death of Republican support for strong American leadership in the world have been greatly exaggerated. … Don’t look at Twitter, look at people in power,” McConnell said at the security conference on Friday. “Republican leaders are committed to a strong trans-Atlantic alliance. We are committed to helping Ukraine.”

The topic of Ukraine funding will be front and center when both spending fights and presidential politics heat up later this year. Republicans are seeking to rein in spending across the federal government now that they control the House and will have leverage in negotiations to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, while conservatives on the campaign trail are looking to contrast their priorities against Biden’s in the prelude to the 2024 election cycle.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday on Fox News that US aid to Ukraine was little more than an “open-ended blank check” — a sentiment shared by a handful of House Republicans who have growing power in a narrowly divided Congress.

For now, Republican leaders on Capitol Hill still view it differently, setting up a clash that could come next fall when the fight over government spending kicks into full gear. Republicans leaders will have to contend with a small but vocal bloc of anti-interventionists within their party who view military support for Ukraine as a prime example of US government waste. In a House of Representatives where Republicans control a razor-thin majority and conservative hardliners have a stranglehold on McCarthy’s speakership, those voices can’t simply be ignored.

When asked by CNN what spending cuts Republicans want to see, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — a conservative hardliner and McCarthy ally — immediately pointed to Ukraine funding.

“Well, I’ll tell you what I’d like to see is we can stop spending over a billion dollars every single month to the government of Ukraine, and propping their government up,” Greene said. “We’ve spent $113 billion in the war over there. And this hasn’t doing anything for our border, and our people.”

Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Congress has appropriated roughly $113 billion in security assistance and humanitarian aid to the country. But congressional support for Ukraine has waned over time: only a handful of Republicans opposed the initial efforts to bolster Ukraine, but they were joined by over 50 other House Republicans voting against an aid package in May.

It’s expected Congress will be asked to give additional money in the next fiscal year, but the ability to do so will hinge largely on whether GOP leaders can hold together support among their members and whether GOP voters see the war effort in Ukraine as a worthy cause.

“Every time we’ve had to do additional funding, it’s gotten harder. I mean there is a constituency out there that doesn’t see the value of it,” Senate Republican whip John Thune warned.

Right now, public support for aiding Ukraine is also waning and Republican voters are even more reluctant to send resources across the Atlantic than Democrats. It’s a dynamic that GOP leaders are watching closely.

In a revealing interview on Fox News last week, McConnell took the issue head on when asked what Biden could do to help the American people see the value in funding the war effort in Ukraine.

“I am going to try to help explain to the American people that defeating the Russians in Ukraine is the single most important event going on in the world right now,” McConnell said, adding later, “I am sorry public opinion is sliding, but I want to reassure the American people this is enormously important. We need to stay together on a bipartisan basis in our country and defend these people who are bravely fighting for freedom and democracy in Ukraine.”

Behind the scenes, GOP leaders are also taking that message directly to their members. In the Senate, the GOP hosted a lunch last week aimed at cementing support and educating the rank-and-file on where the security assistance to Ukraine was going and how the money was under strict oversight in an effort to assuage any concerns funds were wasted. An aide familiar with the meeting told CNN that Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services committee, presented. The next day, senators told CNN Wicker sent members “a whole chart” of how much money the US gave and how much European Union countries were giving.

“The oversight that is going with the funds right now is really significant,” Sen. Mike Rounds, a Republican from South Dakota, said after the meeting. “I think based on the last report that I have seen, you can’t count the number of oversight organizations on two hands and the fact that the government of Ukraine has made it overtly clear that they will punish those individuals that are caught in any sort of corruption activity.”

Many Senate Republicans are united in their efforts to fund Ukraine — and any legislation that would come up for a vote in the chamber on funding would likely pass with Democratic support.

In the House, the challenge is more acute as it will be up to McCarthy to decide what bills come to the floor. And while he could rely on Democratic votes to carry any Ukraine funding over the finish line, such a move would alienate his right flank — and it’s unclear if that’s a risk McCarthy is willing to take.

Even in response to Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine, there was conservative uproar. Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania tweeted Monday that it was “breathtaking that President Biden can show up in Ukraine to ensure their border is secure, but can’t do the same for America.”

Greene tweeted it was “insulting” for Biden to visit Kyiv, saying the president “chose Ukraine over America, while forcing the American people to pay for Ukraine’s government and war.” She said critically that Biden went to Ukraine rather than East Palestine, Ohio, the site of a train derailment that left the community reeling.

And GOP Rep. Andrew Clyde said of Biden’s foreign policy: “America Last is an understatement.”

Earlier this month, Gaetz introduced a resolution seeking to end US aid to Ukraine. The resolution has just 11 original co-signers, but it still shows the major challenge for Republican leaders over the issue as they seek to continue funding the US efforts to help the besieged country.

“I think we have had a lot of discussions about transparency. Maybe they aren’t getting that same information,” Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said about the House-Senate divide. “I think maybe there are more people over there who view it as an enhancement of war where we see it as a protection of freedom.”

“I think there is always fatigue, and I think that is what you are beginning to see is ‘how long is this going to go on?’ ‘This is billions and billions of dollars, and we know there have been corruption problems in this country.’ So I just think it starts to build on itself,” Capito said.

Top House Republicans have continued to try and rally support for Ukraine in their ranks, while former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently made the rounds on Capitol Hill to pitch conservatives on the need for continued support for the country. Still, the GOP’s defense hawks know they have their work cut out for them.

“We have seen time and again the majority of Republicans and Democrats support our assistance to Ukraine. But the Biden administration needs to lay out their long-term strategy,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, who led the delegation of House Republicans to Ukraine this week, said in a statement to CNN. “There are some Members who would be more supportive if they saw a long-term strategy that was based on a Ukrainian victory rather than sending just enough support to prolong the war but not win it.”

For now, senators are confident that McCarthy will be willing to bring up a bill that includes more funding for Ukraine down the line.

“This really is a fight between Democracy and authoritarianism and there may be some loud voices in the House in the Republican conference, but at least in terms of all the votes I have seen to date, they are a tiny minority. It’s the mice that are trying to roar,” Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said.

“I think we are going to be fine. I think Kevin gets it is in our national security interest that Putin be defeated in Ukraine. I mean the critics are isolationists about everything. They wanted to get out of Afghanistan. I mean isolationism has been with us forever in both parties,” said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.

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