Top Republicans in Congress promised to put an end to bloated funding bills for Ukraine.
Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, Ohio Congressman Mike Turner and Texas Congressman Michael McCaul blasted Democrats for continuing to pass large spending bills to support Ukraine, saying that only a small fraction of the funding actually goes to helping the country. While Republicans will continue to fund Ukraine’s defense efforts, Turner promised that future bills will be smaller and have much more transparency and accountability.
“I went to Ukraine in a bipartisan group for the sole purposes of telling President Zelenskyy that he does have continued support and he will have bipartisan support,” said Turner. “The issue, obviously, is this, we don’t need to pass $40 billion large Democrat bills that have been passed to send $8 billion to Ukraine. What we’re going to do — and it’s been very frustrating, obviously, even to the Ukrainians where they hear these large numbers in the United States as a result of the, you know, burgeoned Democrat bills and the little amount of aid that they receive. We’re going to make certain they get what they need.”
Rep. Mike Turner tells @MarthaRaddatz it's "frustrating" for Ukrainians to hear figures of "burgeoned Democrat bills and the little amount of aid that they receive."
“We don’t need to pass $40 billion large Democrat bills…to send $8 billion to Ukraine.” https://t.co/FfTzgfEHIQ pic.twitter.com/QfK1waf73i
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 27, 2022
“I think the majorities on both sides of the aisle support this effort,” McCaul added. “I think, you know, everybody has a voice in Congress. You know, and the fact is, we are going to provide more oversight, transparency and accountability. We’re not going to write a blank check. You know, the last $40 billion package that passed, it was given to us the day of the vote. And members only had a matter of hours to go through all these pages of $40 billion supplemental.”
“And to be honest, a lot of this went to backfill our stockpiles. However, the Republicans are not going to rule like that. We have a voice now and we’re going to do this in an accountable way, with transparency to the American people,” he continued. “These are American taxpayer dollars going in. Does that diminish our will to help the Ukraine people fight? No. But we’re going to do it in a responsible way.”
Rep. Michael McCaul tells @MarthaRaddatz that Republicans will provide “more oversight, transparency and accountability" to Ukraine spending with new House majority.
“We’re not going to write a blank check…We’re going to do it in a responsible way." https://t.co/uMIPFMhYoM pic.twitter.com/KOD5H75nuL
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 27, 2022
According to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the U.S. has already passed $68 billion in aid to Ukraine, and the Biden administration requested another $37.7 billion earlier this month, which would push the total to $105.5 billion.
Just $17 billion has gone to short-term military aid, such as transferring weapons; another $10.4 billion has gone to long-term military support, much of which will likely go to rebuilding the Ukranian military post-war; $9.6 billion has gone to U.S. operations in the region, and $1.2 billion has gone to the Department of Defense.
The remaining $30 billion has been spent on other things like humanitarian aid, economic aid to the Ukranian government, and U.S. government operations and domestic costs.