Michael McCaul proud of Foreign Affairs chairmanship, but is ready for ‘flexibility to speak up’

During his tenure, the international community had more than its share of monumental events. There was the committee’s Afghanistan withdrawal investigation, then there was also the Chinese spy balloon incident, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in Israel, and the subsequent unrest rippling throughout the Middle East, all with the purported growing threat from China toward Taiwan. 

“My whole chairmanship was really heightened by these conflicts, and with the greatest fear of [a] World War Three situation breaking out,” he told the Washington Examiner.

The Texas congressman has led the committee since House Republicans captured the majority during the 2022 midterm elections. He was the ranking member during the first two years of the Biden administration. Prior to that, he chaired the House Homeland Security Committee for six years from 2013 to 2019, in which he’s still a member.

He will stay on the HFAC during the next congress, with Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) succeeding him as chairman. McCaul will also remain on the House Homeland Security Committee, he said.

McCaul acknowledged that chairing any committee “is very time-consuming” and compared it to being a “babysitter” or “manager.” Without the chairmanship on his plate, the lawmaker expects to work more with think tanks, do fireside chats, and write articles.

“I would remind him this is the national security committee that’s very relevant because of the times that we are in. And it’s always better, when you can, speak with one voice as one nation,” McCaul said of what advice he would give to Mast. “I think our adversaries, when we’re divided, view that as weakness, and when you do disagree.”

The committee largely worked together above party lines during McCaul’s tenure, and he said, “having that rapport” with ranking member Gregory Meeks (D-NY) “and that relationship is very important to getting things done.”

Mast has a history of provocative incidents, including a failed Democratic effort to censure him last year for saying comparing “innocent Palestinian civilians” to “innocent Nazi civilians during World War II.” He also has apologized for years-old jokes posted on social media about rape and sex.

“This is not everybody trying to get YouTube moments,” McCaul added, referring to the committee. “This is a very solemn committee with a rich tradition in history that typically puts politics at the water’s edge, leaves it at the water’s edge.”

He considered seeking a waiver to continue as the chairman of the committee but ultimately decided against it. 

“It’s kind of like musical chairs. There’s no chair for me right now. I am going to remain on homeland and foreign affairs,” he added, but he pointed out that he’s “not dying.”

With a second Trump administration coming into office, the Texas lawmaker expects the White House to lead the foreign policy agenda, and not being the chairman of the committee will allow him to speak more freely should he disagree.

“I’ll probably be in agreement with it nearly most, if not all the time, but it does give me some flexibility to speak up when I see things that should be different,” he added.

Comparatively, he was the chairman of the committee with a Democrat in the White House and also in control of the Senate, making him “the only game in town.”

While McCaul and Trump generally align from a foreign policy perspective, one disagreement could emerge with Ukraine. McCaul has been one of Ukraine’s loudest supporters among House Republicans, which has a vocal minority against supporting Ukraine militarily, compared to Trump, who has said he would try to negotiate an end to the war immediately.

McCaul called on the Biden administration to loosen restrictions on how Ukraine uses U.S.-provided weapons to hit targets deeper into Russia months before President Joe Biden actually made that decision last month. Trump said he “vehemently disagrees” with the policy.

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Knowing that Trump will most likely push Ukraine to the negotiating table, McCaul wishes that Ukraine had more leverage, which he blames on the Biden administration’s hesitance to meet Ukraine’s requests.

“I would prefer a negotiation when they have more leverage, which they don’t because this administration has held them back so much. But I do think [Trump] is going to call for a ceasefire and then try to negotiate something that’s amenable to both sides,” McCaul explained. “I think that’s going to be very difficult.”