President Biden’s call for more emergency aid for Ukraine may not get the support he hopes for, as Republicans who previously supported U.S. assistance for the war-torn country are beginning to change their tune.
The president’s most recent ask from Congress—for $24 billion—includes funding for security, economic, and humanitarian assistance. Previous requests have been green-lit thanks to bipartisan support, but this is the first time Biden will ask lawmakers to send more weapons since Republicans took control of the lower chamber.
But a sign the tide is turning among the GOP was seen this week when Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland told his constituents that it’s time to be realistic about U.S. spending for Ukraine.
“Is this more a stalemate? Should we be realistic about it? I think we probably should,” he said on Tuesday, according to Politico.
Of Ukraine’s springtime offensive, the Republican said, “it’s failed,” and he was highly skeptical about how the conflict will end: “I'm not sure it's winnable anymore.”
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Why are his comments any different than GOP hardliners on the issue? Politico explains:
Why he’s different: Those are not unconventional views for a member of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, of which Harris is a longtime member. But Harris is also a co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus whose Ukrainian mother fled communist Eastern Europe after World War II.
He remained steadfast in his support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy through the early months of the war and voted for Congress’s big standalone Ukraine aid package last year, backing both military aid and humanitarian aid for the tiny nation in its Goliath-sized fight against Russia.
Harris is also a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, giving him an outsize voice in his party’s spending priorities.
Asked in an interview after the town hall whether he’d support another tranche of aid, he sharply hedged: “If there is humanitarian monies, nonmilitary monies, or military monies without an inspector general, I’m not supporting it.”
A conservative’s qualms: Harris’s new tone on Ukraine aid is one more sign of the GOP's shifting ground on the issue. And it’s a preview of just how much of a headache the issue will be for Speaker Kevin McCarthy when lawmakers return from recess next month. (Politico)
Among Harris' concerns is the cost amid trillion-dollar U.S. deficits, a concern other Republicans have been voicing since day one.
“I’m sorry, we don’t have that kind of money,” Harris said.
"I think the time has come to realistically call for peace talks. I know President Zelenskyy doesn’t want it,” Harris told his constituents. “But President Zelenskyy, without our help, he would abjectly lose the war. And with our help, he’s not winning. It’s a stalemate now.”
