President Joe Biden on Thursday criticized rival Republicans for suggesting that US funding for Ukraine could be cut after congressional midterm elections next month.
“They said that if they win they’re not likely to fund, to continue to fund Ukraine,” Biden said while campaigning in Pennsylvania.
“These guys don’t get it. It’s a lot bigger than Ukraine. It’s Eastern Europe. It’s NATO. It’s really serious, serious consequential outcomes.
“They have no sense of American foreign policy.”
Senior Republican Kevin McCarthy said on Tuesday that if his party makes widely expected gains in the midterms, it will not write “a blank check” to war-torn Ukraine.
The warning was the first official signal that Kyiv could face a tougher fight for US funding as it fends off Russia’s invasion, with bipartisan support beginning to wane in Washington.
McCarthy hopes to become House speaker — the third-most senior position in US politics behind the president and vice president — if Republicans take over the House of Representatives in the November 8 vote.
Since the start of Russia’s invasion in February, the United States has allocated $17.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine — although this is a fraction of the total bill including humanitarian assistance.