Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said Congress should not delay on voting on an aid package for Ukraine.
Smith, speaking Tuesday at the Politico Defense Summit in Washington, D.C., said Congress should target November and December to put an aid package together.
"Kyiv can hold on, but they would not be in as strong a position," Smith said, according to Politico. "They will be in a very dangerous position if we don't get resources to them reasonably soon."
The Biden administration on Oct. 20 requested a $105 billion supplemental package that ties together aid to Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and the U.S. southern border. But Republicans didn't want to expand the federal deficit further, and under new Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., the House passed a standalone $14.5 billion aid package for Israel, diverting money from the IRS to fund the package.
Twelve Democrats helped the House pass the Israel aid package Nov. 2 in a 226-196 vote, Johnson then reportedly said work on a package tying aid to Ukraine and the U.S. southern border would be next, using seized Russian assets to pay for the aid to Ukraine.
Smith said "it doesn't make sense" for Republicans wanting to tie Ukrainian aid with funding for the southern border. He blamed former President Donald Trump on why the GOP is not in a rush to fund Ukraine.
"The bottom-line reason here is that President Trump's decided that he doesn't like Ukraine," Smith said. "You've got a lot of Republicans who I know, know in their hearts and minds — they support Ukraine, but how do they deal with Trump and his, shall-we-say, rather enthusiastic supporters? So, there's not much policy here and a lot of politics."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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