Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) declared on Monday that he is focused on combating the “isolationist movement” of the Republican Party with his remaining time in office.
The comments, made to WHAS radio host Terry Meiners, signal that McConnell will be clashing with GOP colleagues who desire to rein in U.S. support for foreign allies such as Ukraine and Israel.
Although he plans to step down as party leader, McConnell stressed, “I’m not leaving the Senate.” He added, “I’m particularly involved in actually fighting back against the isolationist movement in my own party and so many others as well.”
Q: “What’s your mindset now when your feet hit the floor in the morning?”
McConnell: "I'm not leaving the Senate. And I'm particularly involved in fighting back against the isolationist movement in my own party. The symbol lately is ‘are we gonna help Ukraine or not.’” pic.twitter.com/VHZprlxMGY
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 1, 2024
One conflict in particular that McConnell referenced was Ukraine’s fight against Russia, a cause to which the United States has allocated tens of billions of dollars.
“The symbol, lately, is ‘are we gonna help Ukraine or not?’ And I think it’s extremely important that we do that,” McConnell said.
Polling released by the Pew Research Center in December showed an increasing number of Republicans — approaching half of them — say the United States is providing too much aid to Ukraine as the conflict approached its two-year mark.
That sentiment is showing in Congress. More than half of Republicans in the Senate voted against the $95 billion foreign aid bill that would give roughly $60 billion to Ukraine. The legislation passed, but so far the GOP-controlled House has not taken it up for consideration.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has indicated he is open to providing more foreign aid, but with “important innovations” that can bring together the slim GOP majority in the House. For instance, he mentioned to Fox News a loan for Ukraine floated by former President Donald Trump.
Meiners noted that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has been criticizing McConnell and saying he is out of touch with the people in Kentucky. The host pressed McConnell on how to create unity.
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Paul “would be the first one to say that he’s an isolationist,” McConnell replied. “He has been all along. This is not anything new for him. And he and I have always disagreed on this kind of issue.”
McConnell said what is “more troublesome” is that others appear to be “heading in that direction, making arguments that I think are easily refuted.”
He added, “We’re not losing any of our troops, the Ukrainians are the ones doing the fighting. If the Russians take Ukraine, some NATO country would be next and then we will be right in the middle of it.”