Sen. Mike Lee, other Republicans propose bill to require Biden to reveal Ukraine strategy
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Sen. Mike Lee of Utah along with other Republican lawmakers introduced a bill that would require the Biden administration to be transparent about its strategy on the country’s involvement in the war in Ukraine.
This bill comes in response to the administration’s consistent promise of helping Kyiv for “as long as it takes.” After spending nearly $113 billion in aid for Ukraine, the White House is seeking an additional $24 billion.
“The Biden administration’s ‘as long as it takes’ approach to Ukraine is unacceptable, and frankly, not a strategy,” said Lee, a Republican, according to a press release.
“Before we spend another penny on Ukraine, the administration owes Congress and the American people a plan of action. This bill requires the Biden administration to put pen to paper and define our goal in Ukraine,” he added.
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The Define the Mission Act, sponsored by Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, and Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., would require the president to submit a comprehensive plan within 30 days of its enactment, including the resources and assistance required from the U.S. and its NATO allies.
Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, introduced the Define the Mission Act in the House last week.
“The Ukraine proxy war is the Washington war hawk regime’s latest obsession,” said Davidson. “It’s our responsibility to demand a defined mission on behalf of the American people and get concrete answers to avoid endless war.”
Last month — when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Washington, D.C., to ramp up support for his war-torn country — 28 Republican lawmakers, including Lee, wrote a letter opposing the approval of additional funding to Kyiv.
In the letter, addressed to Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, congressional Republicans vowed to oppose President Joe Biden’s request for $24 billion in military, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine unless certain questions can be answered.
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Many of these questions relate to understanding the Biden administration’s strategy on Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia as well as a potential exit plan.
The $24 billion requested by Biden was initially attached to the spending bills that lawmakers are currently negotiating, as the Deseret News reported. Congress has less than three days until the government runs out of funding; lawmakers have to either approve a dozen spending bills or push forward a stopgap bill to avoid a government shutdown.
But the stopgap bill that the Republican conference in the House proposed does not include the $24 billion that the president requested.
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Still, there is broad bipartisan support among congressional lawmakers, especially in the Senate, to continue funding Ukraine. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., argues that Russia’s victory in the war will embolden China
“The United States isn’t arming Ukraine out of a sense of charity. We are backing a fellow democracy because it is in our direct interest to do so,” McConnell said, per NBC News.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also strongly supports sending more aid to Kyiv and has not shown a willingness to drop it amid the spending bill negotiations.
