As House Republicans look to fill the vacancy created by the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), continued aid to Ukraine could be on the line.
The House voted to remove McCarthy this week, just days after he was able to cobble together the necessary votes to prevent a government shutdown, but his removal puts much of the House’s work on pause until the next speaker is selected.
JIM JORDAN REVEALS WHAT THE HOUSE WOULD LOOK LIKE WITH HIM AS SPEAKER
Last week, before Congress’s deal to avert a government shutdown, the House voted 331-117 in favor of a $300 million aid package to Ukraine, with every vote against the measure coming from Republicans, meaning more than half the caucus voted against it. Among possible or declared speaker candidates, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) voted against the measure, as did Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK), who is weighing a bid, while Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), also a declared candidate, voted in favor of it.
“I’ve been clear all along. Why should we be sending American tax dollars to Ukraine when we don’t even know what the goal is?” Jordan, who has been backed by former President Donald Trump, said earlier this week. “No one can tell me what the objective is. Is it some kind of negotiated peace? Is it driving them out of eastern Ukraine? Is it driving them out of Crimea, which they’ve had for 10 years now, that they took during the Obama administration? What is the objective?”
A spokesperson for the Ohio lawmaker clarified his comments about Ukraine, saying the lawmaker was seeking more information about President Joe Biden’s long-term thinking.
Defending Democracy Together came out with a report card for members of Congress rating their support for Ukraine aid, and Scalise was given a B on the matter, while Jordan and Hern earned an F.
“I think that the commander in chief ought to sit down in a classified setting and tell those of us that have not supported for the same reason, time and time again,” Hern said. “We want to know where the American taxpayer dollars are going and what’s the endgame.”
Congress was able to keep the government open by passing a 45-day continuing resolution but removed additional Ukraine funding from the legislation to pass it. McCarthy’s removal hampers the House’s ability to pass new funding at a time when the Department of Defense has stressed the current funding is quickly drying up.
There is only $1.6 billion remaining of the $25.9 billion Congress allocated for the replenishment of depleted stockpiles, Pentagon Comptroller Michael McCord said in a letter to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) last week.
Without additional funding, the department would “have to delay or curtail assistance to meet Ukraine’s urgent requirements, including for air defense and ammunition that are both critical and urgent now as Russia prepares to conduct a winter offensive and continue its bombardment of Ukrainian cities,” McCord wrote.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said the United States can support Ukraine for “just a little bit longer” during a briefing earlier this week.
Biden, amid the speaker debate, acknowledged that it “does worry me” as it relates to continuing aid to Ukraine, which he called “critically important.” He also noted, “There is a majority of members of the House and Senate of both parties who have said that they support funding Ukraine.”
