Skepticism over Ukraine aid pervasive at CPAC

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — This year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) highlighted sharp divisions within the Republican Party over aid to Ukraine, with the majority of speakers and attendees opposed to further aid to the country. expressed his intention.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has dragged on for two years, but Democrats and some Republicans support providing more aid to the Eastern European country. The Senate this month passed a bipartisan bill that includes aid to Ukraine and Israel, which are at war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

But a vocal faction of the Republican Party is pushing back against Ukraine, with lawmakers arguing at CPAC that the U.S. needs to focus more on domestic issues such as border security, and some questioning whether Ukraine can defeat Russia. is opposed to further funding. .

“I think it’s foolish to spend so many resources, so much attention, so much time on a border conflict 6,000 miles away when the southern border of the United States is wide open,” said Sen. J.D. Vance. (Republican, Ohio) argued. Friday.

The issue of providing additional resources to Ukraine has become a lightning rod between former President Trump and Republican lawmakers. President Trump and many conservatives argue that the Biden administration is more concerned with foreign conflicts than with what’s happening in its own backyard.

“Decide, Joe Biden, which is more important to you, the U.S. border or the Ukrainian border?” said Rep. Byron Donald (R-Fla.).

President Trump and his allies also expressed dissatisfaction with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which promised that allies that are part of the military alliance would allocate 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) to defense spending. He said that he was not complying with the law.

The former president made headlines earlier this month when he suggested he would let Russia do “whatever it wants” if NATO members didn’t honor their defense spending commitments, but some CPAC attendees said that Ignored or ignored comments. I said that would be too much.

“Our allies in Europe, which are made up of very wealthy countries, don’t spend as much on their own defense because they don’t pay as much for their own defense,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) told CPAC attendees on Friday. “They trick people into paying much of the cost.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier this month that NATO’s 18 member states were on track to meet their defense spending commitments this year, saying, “European allies are increasing spending. There is still a way to go.”

At the same time, some Republicans still believe it is in America’s interest to continue supporting Ukraine.

Earlier this month, senators voted to pass an emergency defense spending bill that would provide $60 billion in aid to Ukraine and $14 billion in aid to Israel. But the bill faces an uncertain future, given that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) opposes it.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement after the Senate passed the bill: “The Senate understands our national security responsibilities, and we will not ignore them.” .

He added: “Our adversaries hope that the United States will decide that strengthening our allies and partners is not in our interests and that investing in strategic competition is not worth it.” “They want us to take that hard-earned trust and ignite it.”

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, reasoned in a statement that lawmakers are working hard to fill the void left by President Biden.

“By strengthening and equipping America to resist enemy aggression, Congress has stepped up to do the job the president cannot do,” she said. “This action is critical to reversing President Biden’s weakness on the world stage, which is abandoning our partners, emboldening authoritarians, and putting American lives at risk.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned on Monday that Russia was “taking advantage of the delay in providing aid to Ukraine.” Members of parliament have been traveling to Ukraine in recent days to meet with Zelenskiy.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and a handful of Senate Democrats met with Zelensky on Friday during a visit to Ukraine, seeking to emphasize support for the country as it defends itself from Russia. A bipartisan group of House members met with Ukrainian leaders earlier this month.

But Republicans eager to continue supporting Ukraine are at a crossroads with members of the party taking a more isolationist approach to foreign policy. That message was not forgotten among attendees at CPAC, where this year’s slogan was “Where is globalism going?”

“It is outrageous that so many in the media, in the Democratic Party, in Joe Biden, are trying to drag us into a war in Europe with no talk of a peace deal. There’s no talk,” argued Matt Schlapp, president of the American Conservative Union, which organizes CPAC.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), another Trump supporter and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he voted against the emergency defense spending bill “because I know they can’t win.” Ta.

Many CPAC attendees told The Hill they opposed or expressed skepticism about further aid to Ukraine, echoing comments made by Trump and other Republicans.

“Absolutely not. 100 percent different,” said Christine Blanchard, a visitor from California. “This is not our war and we have a lot of problems at home to deal with. Our money shouldn’t be used for that.”

“I think we all agreed to it when the conflict started,” said Ana Viso, another visitor from Virginia. “Now that the crisis in our country is worsening on our borders, I feel we should move towards more negotiations and try to build peace between our two countries.”

Bisso acknowledged that the United States “should be concerned about President Putin,” but added: “I think we also need to look inward.”

But other participants at the conference, including former lawmakers, believe the issue is not so black and white.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania) said, “From a national security perspective, it makes no sense for the United States not to support allies who are at war with our enemies.” “Russia is an enemy of the United States.”

Santorum added that he was perplexed by the rift among Republicans over additional aid to Ukraine.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“As someone who has been involved in the Republican Party for a long time, this is a foreign concept to me,” the former congressman explained. “I understand that because of the wars in Afghanistan and especially Iraq, there’s a lot of sentiment that people are concerned about foreign involvement. But you know, this is apples and oranges.”