Congressional leaders are working to pass $24 billion in additional aid to Ukraine, but rising opposition on the right is complicating its passage.
When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returns to the U.S. this week to extend his hand in Washington, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will be at the front of the line to grasp it.
In recent weeks, the Kentucky Republican has been making a concerted public case for continued material and financial aid to Ukraine to support its fight against the Russian invasion. “Helping Ukraine retake its territory means weakening — weakening — one of America’s biggest strategic adversaries without firing a shot,” he said in a recent floor speech.
With Democrats in near lockstep behind President Biden in support for Ukraine funding, McConnell’s message is clearly directed at members of his own party who are ready to cut off aid. Last month, President Biden asked Congress to approve an additional $24 billion as part of a broader $40 billion emergency spending package.How Ukraine funding is tied to a shutdown threat
The Ukraine money is now stuck in limbo as part of a complicated fight over spending that is pitting Republicans against one another and the House against the Senate. Congress has less than two weeks to avoid a shutdown at the end of the month, and McConnell wants to pass Ukraine aid on the same timeline, but there is little urgency among Republicans.
“There’s no national security interest for us in Ukraine, and even if there were, it would be trumped by the fact that we have no money,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. His long-held opposition to essentially all foreign intervention once made Paul a fringe thinker in the party, but the rise of Trumpian, American First ideology now aligns Paul with a super-majority of Republican voters.
An August CNN poll showed that a majority of Americans, 55%, say Congress should not authorize more funding for Ukraine.
