Key Panel Calls on House to Quickly Pass Ukraine Aid Package

During Appropriations’ Defense Subcommittee hearing, Republican leaders say failing to help Kyiv fight off Russia will embolden China, Iran, North Korea.

FILE - Airmen with the 436th Aerial Port Squadron use a forklift to move 155 mm shells ultimately bound for Ukraine, April 29, 2022, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. The Pentagon announced a new package of long-term security assistance for Ukraine on Friday, Feb. 24, 2023, marking the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion with a $2 billion commitment to send more rounds of ammunition and a variety of small, high-tech drones into the fight. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

House conservatives have stymied proposed supplemental funding packages for Ukraine since the fall. But their justifications for further delays in delivering military aid to Kyiv got little oxygen during an April 17 defense budget hearing before a key appropriations panel.

“With Mr. Putin saying very openly and repeatedly that he wants to restore the old Soviet Union, all of the nation states, in Eastern Europe especially, are looking to us,” House Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said, referring to the Russian leader’s demands seeking no further NATO expansion, no missiles on Russia’s borders, and a return of NATO operations back to its 1997 borders. “If we fail them, I think it fuels further the belief that Putin will try to succeed in restoring the old Soviet Union.”