McCarthy Signals Less Support For Ukraine If GOP Retakes the House: ‘It’s Not a Free Blank Check’

Screenshot via CSPAN

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) made clear this week that if his party retakes the majority in the midterms, Congress is far less likely to continue supporting Ukraine’s military effort to fend off the Russian invasion of its territory.

“I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine,” McCarthy told Punchbowl News, according to a report published Tuesday.

“They just won’t do it,” he argued. “It’s not a free blank check.”

“There’s the things [the Biden administration] is not doing domestically,” he said. “Not doing the border, and people begin to weigh that. Ukraine is important, but at the same time, it can’t be the only thing they do, and it can’t be a blank check.”

The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake noted the shift in attitudes among House GOP members:

In March, 9% of GOP leaners said we were spending too much on Ukraine.

In May: 17%

Last month: 32%

The signs are there that a GOP majority might move to restrict/withhold aid. Now McCarthy is admitting as much.

Congress has so far appropriated some $60 billion in aid to Ukraine and $18.2 billion in security assistance.

The Democrat-run U.S. Senate has authorized over $40 billion in new military and humanitarian assistance. During votes on those packages, 11 GOP Senators and 57 GOP House members voted against the measures, with some arguing the money did not come with enough accountability it would be spent on weapons and key supplies for the battlefield.