House GOP Ukraine skeptics draw battle lines ahead of funding fight

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Members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus and their allies are drawing lines within the sand ahead of what’s anticipated to be an intense inter-GOP battle over further assist for Ukraine

The House of Representatives is predicted to take up the problem of Ukraine and supplemental overseas assist the week after subsequent, three sources instructed Fox News Digital. 

Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, R-Va., known as for any funding to Ukraine to be balanced out by spending cuts elsewhere and for it to be paired with U.S. border coverage adjustments.

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split image of Rep. Bob Good, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Rep. Andrew Clyde

House GOP lawmakers like Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good, R-Va., left, and Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., proper, are staking out their positions on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s request for extra assist. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images | Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto through Getty Images | Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc through Getty Images)

“We cannot continue to borrow and spend money we don’t have for wars overseas while failing to protect Americans from the Biden border invasion here at home,” Good instructed Fox News Digital earlier this week. “At a bare minimum, any package for military aid to Ukraine should be fully offset and must include H.R. 2 with performance metrics to secure our own border.”

The place has since been echoed by different members of the House GOP’s proper flank. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., instructed Fox News Digital on Friday, “Any lethal military assistance to Ukraine that fails to meet these critical requirements is a total nonstarter.”

“House Republicans were tasked with getting our country back on track — starting with cutting spending and securing the southern border,” Clyde defined. “Abandoning these priorities while advancing a pricey package to defend Ukraine’s borders would represent an utter betrayal of the American people.”

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And former Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry, R-Pa., instructed Fox News Digital, “We stand with Ukraine. Our priority, however, must be America… Our debt is $35 trillion next month; any foreign aid package must be heavily scrutinized.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., mentioned he desires to take care of Ukraine assist when the House returns from recess. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., equally mentioned on “Mornings With Maria” this week, “Now, if there are no offsets, if there are not concessions made to pay for this, more borrowing is not the answer. And that’s where [Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.] is going to have to step up, use the leverage he has as speaker, to get concessions.”

And whereas the 2 concessions outlined by Good are probably not going to sway probably the most hard-line critics into supporting Ukraine assist, it’s a sign that they won’t throw up many important roadblocks or threaten Johnson’s gavel over its passage.

Freedom Caucus members and their allies have up to now pressured House management to bypass common procedural hurdles to place payments on the ground beneath suspension of the foundations, in alternate for elevating the brink for passage to two-thirds moderately than a easy majority. 

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The subject has pushed a wedge throughout the House Republican Conference, with a rising quantity of GOP lawmakers skeptical of the U.S.’ continued assist for Ukraine because it continues to fight off Russia’s invasion. 

Johnson has floated a number of proposals this week that look like aimed toward easing considerations from the suitable wing of his convention. He’s urged aiding Ukraine within the type of a mortgage, a plan the speaker mentioned is supported by former President Donald Trump, in addition to weakening Russia’s energy-dominated financial system by forcing the Biden administration to reverse a pause on liquefied pure fuel (LNG) export permits.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C.

Rep. Ralph Norman, S.C., additionally known as for Ukraine assist to be offset.

Johnson additionally floated getting some of the funding by liquefying seized Russian belongings, a bipartisan plan launched within the House and Senate final yr.

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But these proposals bought a lukewarm reception at greatest from Ukraine funding skeptics.

“I don’t think the conservatives would consider it enough without border security,” one senior House GOP aide instructed Fox News Digital.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., wrote on X earlier this week, “There’s talk of ‘loaning’ the money & equipment to Ukraine. OK, why not loan the aid to Israel & Taiwan as well? Because they actually have the means to pay back the loan, that’s why. It’s a farce.”

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