Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Friday told attendees at the Munich Security Conference that Republican leadership backs continued aid to Ukraine as it fights off a Russian invasion, despite a recent poll among the American public that only 48% favor the U.S. providing weapons to Ukraine, with 29 percent opposed and 22 percent saying they’re neither in favor nor opposed.
“Reports about the death of Republican support for strong American leadership in the world have been greatly exaggerated,” he said. “My party’s leaders overwhelmingly support a strong, involved America and a robust trans-Atlantic alliance. Don’t look at Twitter, look at people in power.”
The Kentucky senator claimed he was referring to himself, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and top Republicans on the Senate and House committees.
“Republican leaders are committed to a strong trans-Atlantic alliance. We are committed to helping Ukraine. Not because of vague moral arguments or abstractions like the so-called ‘rules-based international order.’ But rather, because America’s own core national interests are at stake. Because our security is interlinked, and our economies are intertwined.
Despite Americans growing increasingly tired of supporting Ukraine when poverty and crime spiral out of control here at home, the U.S. continues to be a top contributor to the Ukrainian war effort. Since the Russian invasion a year ago, the U.S. has given more than $110 billion in financial, military, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. That amount includes more than $27.4 billion in security assistance.
Not all members of the Republican Party are eager to support Ukraine and are calling to end aid immediately. Rep. Matt Gaetz, (R-FL), and 10 co-sponsors introduced the “Ukraine Fatigue Resolution” this month, which calls for the U.S. to “end its military and financial aid to Ukraine and urges all combatants to reach a peace agreement.”
Gaetz, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said the U.S. has been the top contributor to what he called an “everlasting conflict.”
“America is in a state of managed decline, and it will exacerbate if we continue to hemorrhage taxpayer dollars toward a foreign war,” he said. “We must suspend all foreign aid for the War in Ukraine and demand that all combatants in this conflict reach a peace agreement immediately.”
In response to dwindling support within his party, McConnell appeared to reference the risk that U.S. support could wilt, and said that European allies need to step up, arguing that “European countries have not been uniformly generous to Ukraine.”
“If you want to help Ukraine win; if you want NATO to emerge stronger from this conflict; and if you want sustained political support in America for our staying engaged and invested in maintaining a Europe that is whole, free and at peace . . . then America’s friends on this continent must mirror the resolve and reciprocate the commitment that you hope to see from us,” he said.
