(RightWing.org) – On Saturday, September 30, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) managed to force through a stop-gap spending bill with the help of Democrats, narrowly avoiding a government shutdown. Ultra-conservative lawmakers managed to get one concession — the measure didn’t include any funding for Ukraine. President Joe Biden weighed in on that exclusion, insisting the United States can’t stop supporting the war-torn country financially.
On Sunday, Biden spoke to reporters about the bill’s passage. Taking an aggressive stance out the gate, he told reporters he was “sick and tired of [Washington] brinksmanship,” as were the American people. The president claimed that a “vast majority” of lawmakers from both parties in the Senate and House supported helping Ukraine fight the “brutal aggression” being waged against it and the nation’s women and children by Russia.
Biden said he hoped his Republican counterparts would keep their word about supporting Kyiv. Biden told reporters that McCarthy committed himself to securing an aid package for Ukraine in a separate measure. He called on GOP lawmakers to stick to that vow and “stop playing games.”
A few reporters asked about Ukraine after the president delivered his prepared remarks. One asked Biden what reassurances he could offer to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He said he could tell Ukraine’s head that Congress would pass a measure to fund the war effort. He said he didn’t believe lawmakers would torpedo future funding for “purely political reasons” and “let more people die needlessly.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spoke with CBS’ “Face the Nation” host Margeret Brennan later that day about Ukraine. He said he supported providing additional funding to the war effort there. He also warned that if Congress decided to “pull the plug” on continuing support for Ukraine, the eventual outcome would be “10 times worse” than what happened during the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Graham said any move to stop supporting Kyiv would end up serving as a “death sentence for Taiwan.” He explained anyone who didn’t know how this situation would end up “missed all of World War II.”
It remains unclear how many Republican lawmakers agree with Graham’s assertions and whether a bill funding Ukraine might pass in the House and Senate.
Copyright 2023, RightWing.org
