House GOP Speaker Mike Johnson has faced backlash from various conservative members for pushing Ukraine aid, despite a majority of Republicans nationwide opposing such funding. On Saturday, 101 House Republicans joined all Democratic members in approving a foreign aid package providing $60.8 billion to Ukraine, along with billions more to Israel and Taiwan. However, polling shows a majority of Republican adults and voters do not support additional aid to Ukraine, with many believing the U.S. is already doing enough. “I assume that’s an intentional, not accidental, disregard for voters,” Republican strategist Mike McKenna told the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF). “But if you’ve lived in D.C. for more than 10 minutes, you can’t be surprised.”
A late March Quinnipiac poll found that 60% of registered GOP voters believe the U.S. is doing “too much” to help Ukraine, while 63% oppose further military aid. Other polls have yielded similar results, with a CBS News poll conducted in April showing 61% of Republicans think the U.S. should not send weapons and military aid to Ukraine.
“In a word: betrayal,” GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida told the DCNF. Many conservative members opposed the supplemental aid due to its lack of border security provisions, including House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good.
“The vote of a majority of Republicans against the Ukraine aid is a reflection of Republicans across the country. They were promised by Speaker Johnson that we would secure our own border before borrowing tens of billions more to send to Ukraine,” Good told the DCNF. “Instead, we passed a bill to borrow $95 billion to secure other countries, including $9 billion for Gaza that will end up in the hands of terrorists.”
Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia echoed Good’s sentiment in a statement to the DCNF. “The majority of both our House Republican Conference and Republican voters oppose Ukraine funding and support our border security. Yet Speaker Johnson abandoned leverage to secure our border and locked arms with Democrats to pass Ukraine aid,” Clyde said. “Nothing illustrates this stunning betrayal better than Democrats celebrating on the House floor by waving Ukrainian flags as Americans suffer from President Biden’s intentional illegal invasion.”
GOP Arizona Rep. Eli Crane believes that party leaders on both sides of the aisle have “gotten away with” voting contrary to their constituents’ desires for “so long.” “I was encouraged to see that a majority of House Republicans voted against additional funding to Ukraine, which shows the tides are turning,” Crane told the DCNF. “I’m hopeful that GOP representatives will continue listening to their constituents and send a signal to leadership that the will of their voters takes precedence over costly dictates from the Swamp.”
Additionally, 75% of voters across Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Nevada also oppose sending more aid to Ukraine without border security provisions, with 56% saying the U.S. has “provided too much,” according to a poll conducted by The Heritage Foundation/RMG Research, Inc. on April 15.
Kevin Roberts, president of The Heritage Foundation, told the DCNF that “the D.C. ruling class would do well to heed the voices of those who elected them.” “Hardworking Americans are begging for Congress to prioritize our nation’s security and prosperity over foreign interests and reckless spending,” Roberts said. “It’s no mystery why taxpayers reject accruing more debt to extend conflicts abroad; they’re struggling to put food on the table and gas in the tank all while worrying about the crime, chaos, and death stemming from the Biden admin’s open border priorities.”
Johnson’s office referred the DCNF to his public comments on why he chose to advance the supplemental aid, stating: “These are not normal times, they’re not, the world is destabilized and it’s a tinderbox. It’s a dangerous time,” Johnson said on Saturday. “Three of our primary adversaries — Russia and Iran and China — are working together, and they’re being aggressors around the globe. And they’re a global threat to our prosperity and our security. Their advance threatens the free world, and it demands American leadership. If we turn our backs right now the consequences could be devastating.”
The Senate could approve the foreign aid package this week, having previously passed similar legislation in mid-February. However, Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah is urging 41 GOP senators to oppose the supplemental aid. The U.S. has already provided over $113 billion in aid to Ukraine since the war began in February 2022, according to the U.S. State Department Office of Inspector General.
