GOP leaders commence preparing groundwork for more Ukraine aid

WASHINGTON — Leading Republicans in Congress are not waiting for the next debate over assistance to Ukraine, instead launching an early and aggressive effort to make the case for why the U.S. should continue spending billions of dollars on the war effort.

One of their main challenges: winning over skeptical Republican colleagues.

“I’m very much focused on the dissension within my own party on this,” Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Associated Press.

McCaul plans to hold a hearing in the spring focused on Russian atrocities against Ukrainian civilians, to try to bring home the war’s terrible toll.

“I find that moves the dial, when they see these horrific killings of children,” McCaul said.

The task ahead is challenging, particularly in the House. While Republicans have often been the nation’s leading defense hawks, eager for the U.S. to defend its interests through foreign action, former President Donald Trump’s “America First” approach has emboldened a noninterventionist wing that is ascendant. They are clamoring for the Ukraine aid to come to an end.

The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, said of the Republicans across the aisle: “There are some that I’ve talked to, they don’t realize the interest the United States has in it.”

Last week, a group of 11 House Republicans led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida unveiled a “Ukraine Fatigue” resolution. It stated that the U.S. “must end its military and financial aid to Ukraine” and urged the combatants to “reach a peace agreement.”

“America is in a state of managed decline, and it will exacerbate if we continue to hemorrhage taxpayer dollars toward a foreign war,” Gaetz said.

The U.S. has provided four rounds of aid to Ukraine in response to Russia’s invasion, totaling about $113 billion, with some of the money going toward replenishment of U.S. military equipment that was sent to the frontlines.

Congress approved the latest round of aid in December. While the package was designed to last through the end of the fiscal year in September, much depends upon events on the ground. Officials in Kyiv anticipate a new Russian offensive in coming weeks around the anniversary of the Feb. 24 invasion, which could hasten Ukraine’s need for more military and economic assistance.

But another funding request is certain to face heavy resistance from lawmakers closely aligned with Trump and budget hawks worried about the nation’s $31 trillion in government debt.