Russian propaganda pushed by the Kremlin has “infected” part of the Republican base, a senior GOP congressman has said, as indications grow that a vital U.S. military package for Ukraine will come up for a vote with U.S. lawmakers this month.
“I think Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base,” House Foreign Affairs Committee chair and Texas Republican, Michael McCaul, told Puck News.
A new tranche of military, economic and humanitarian aid for Ukraine, worth around $60 billion, has been ensnared in Congress for months by infighting, causing deep concerns in Kyiv as Russian forces inch westward and gain territory while Ukrainian forces contend with shortages along the frontlines.
The U.S. aid is the backbone of support flowing into Ukraine to sustain its war effort against Russia, now well past the two-year mark. Aid from other sources, like several European nations, is dwarfed by the contributions from the U.S., and Russia has mobilized its defense industry to keep its own fight going.
The Biden administration managed to drum up $300 million in additional aid for Ukraine in mid-March, but has looked on with frustration at the Republican-controlled House of Representatives stalling the fresh aid package.
Newsweek has contacted the GOP for comment on this story.
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“We really need Congress to pass the supplemental budget,” Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder told reporters late last month. “That is the route to ensuring that Ukraine has the support that it needs and the volume of support that it needs to continue the fight.”
Without the aid, Ukraine has been clear, the picture for the rest of the year’s fighting is dire. “If there is no U.S. support, it means that we have no air defense, no Patriot missiles, no jammers for electronic warfare, no 155-milimetre artillery rounds,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told The Washington Post in an interview published in late March.
“It means we will go back, retreat, step by step, in small steps,” he said. Should the frontlines not hold out because of shortages, he added, “the Russians could go to the big cities.”
“The delay in passing the supplemental has undoubtedly emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regime,” the U.S. think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in December. Anxieties in Kyiv have only worsened in the months since, particularly as it prepares for a Russian summer offensive starting as early as May.
“I have to explain to them what’s at stake, why Ukraine is in our national security interest,” McCaul said. Should Ukraine fall, the Kremlin will turn to neighboring nations like Moldova and Georgia, and then look to the Baltic region on NATO’s eastern flank, he said. “So I just think it’s preventative.”
Pressure from former president and current presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has halted the aid’s progress on the House floor. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson—contending with his own precarious position—is now expected to bring a vote on Ukraine funding when Congress returns from recess next week.
“His commitment is to put it on the floor after Easter,” McCaul told CBS News on March 24.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.