House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) expressed skepticism Tuesday about sending additional aid to Ukraine ahead of Kyiv President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the nation’s capital later this week.
“Is Zelensky elected to Congress? Is he our president? I don’t think I have to commit anything and I think I have questions for him,” McCarthy told reporters when asked about the prospect of further support.
“Where’s the accountability on the money we’ve already spent?” the speaker added.
McCarthy’s office confirmed the speaker plans to meet with Zelensky, who is also set to visit the White House and confer with the other “Big Three” congressional leaders on Thursday.
Last month, President Biden requested more than $20 billion in additional aid to Ukraine after Congress appropriated $113 billion last year to support the war-torn Eastern European country.
But McCarthy, who is scrambling to avert a government shutdown at month’s end, must contend with a handful of members who are deeply skeptical of any more assistance.
About $70 billion of the congressional appropriation was meant for security purposes, approximately 90% of which has been assigned or spent.
An accounting error has enabled the State Department and Pentagon to keep assistance flowing longer than expected, but Biden administration officials warn they need more.
A compromise short-term spending deal announced late Sunday between the hard-line House Freedom Caucus and the comparatively moderate Main Street Caucus omitted additional aid to Ukraine.
That agreement would keep the government funded through Oct. 31, but there have already been enough GOP defections to derail it, amid howling overspending.
Some members such as hard-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who has helped McCarthy with internal revolts in the past, have drawn a red line on Ukraine aid.
“There’s no money in the House right now for Ukraine,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) told reporters about Zelensky. “It’s not a good time for him to be here, quite frankly.”
Meanwhile, Democrats have expressed outrage at Republican reluctance to support the Kyiv government.
“There’s no money in the House right now for Ukraine,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) told reporters about Zelensky. “It’s not a good time for him to be here, quite frankly.”
“I cannot think of a worse welcome for President Zelensky, who visits us this week, than this House proposal, which ignores Ukraine entirely,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) chided Monday.
“I cannot think of a worse welcome for President Zelensky, who visits us this week, than this House proposal, which ignores Ukraine entirely.”— Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hits House Republicans’ tentative short-term spending deal, which does not include Ukraine aid pic.twitter.com/TESvbVpoYj
Zelensky delivered an address to the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, during which he underscored the threat Moscow poses to the world.
“When hatred is weaponized against one nation, it never stops there — each decade, Russia starts a new war,” he warned.
McCarthy, who met with Zelensky when he addressed a joint meeting of Congress last year, has previously stressed that he doesn’t back sending a “blank check” to Ukraine.
The GOP-led House Foreign Affairs Committee analyzed US aid to Ukraine earlier this year and did not find widespread misuse.
However, some Republicans have called for the establishment of a federal office to oversee the distribution of aid and military materiel to confirm its ultimate destination.