Inside the House GOP effort to keep weapons flowing to Ukraine

[brooklynite]

CNN

After House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy suggested last week that Republicans might pull back funding for Ukraine next year if they take the majority, the GOP leader has worked behind the scenes to reassure national security leaders in his conference that he wasn’t planning to abandon Ukraine aid and was just calling for greater oversight of any federal dollars, sources told CNN.

McCarthy told key Republican national security committee members – some of whom reached out to McCarthy – that his comments that Ukraine wouldn’t get a “blank check” in a Republican majority were being taken out of context, the sources said. Rather, McCarthy told his members he was simply saying that a GOP-led House would not automatically rubber-stamp a request from the administration for additional Ukraine aid.

“McCarthy was not saying, ‘We wouldn’t spend money.’ McCarthy was saying, ‘We’re gonna be accountable to the taxpayer for every dollar we spend,’” one GOP lawmaker familiar with McCarthy’s thinking told CNN. “A ‘blank check’ means that people get whatever they ask for. What we’re saying is there’s going to be some thought, there’s going to be accountability, and taxpayer dollars are going to be used appropriately.”

McCarthy’s effort to soothe the House’s senior defense hawks, which has not been previously reported, underscores the fine line the aspiring speaker is walking on foreign policy as the war in Ukraine appears poised to grind into a second year. But it also offers a preview of the types of policy and political battles to come between the establishment and pro-Trump wings of the GOP, presenting a tricky balancing act — and potential headaches — for Republican leaders in a House majority.

[Frustratedlady]

1. So, McCarthy says the Repukes are going to be accountable to the taxpayer for every dollar

they spend.

Really?

When did you start that? How about all that PPP money your buddies/budettes got and never paid back? That's just one instance.

The Repukes have never been accountable for anything they do and it ain't gonna change.

[blm]

5. Exactly. Plus, the current accounting has been VERY transparent.

MAGA Republicans have been spreading lies that Zelenskyy is corruptly pocketing the money the US sends.

They have no clue that Putin is considered the wealthiest person of the world BECAUSE he’s the most corrupt. It’s why his military is failing and why Trump adores hm.

[Demsrule86]

2. What? I would delete this...it seem like you are giving the Repukes a pass. McCarthy will

defund Ukraine...that is a certainty as far as I am concerned. It seems you have posted an example of CNN moving to the right as well.

[brooklynite]

9. Why?

This is a story about squabbles among the GOP.

REPUBLICANS IN DISARRAY!!!

[Midnight Writer]

3. Remarks "were being taken out of context".

The context I observe is every right-wing talk radio/TV host demanding to know why we are backing Ukraine over Russia. Of CPAC attendees cheering Putin at their conference. Of GOP Party leader Trump and his allies praising Putin and condemning Ukraine.

McCarthy does not have a reputation for standing up against the crazies in the right-wing media machine.

That's the "context" I see.

[Ray Bruns]

8. You mean statements like "Roe vs Wade is settled law".

[Demsrule86]

4. And it is of no interest to me what liar like McCarthy says...

[spanone]

6. So kev, were you lying then or are you lying now?

[Deuxcents]

7. They're only interested when there's a dem in the WH

McCarthy has no credibility. No spine.