Politics

‘Stunning Betrayal’: Republican Voters Opposed Shoveling Billions More Into Ukraine. GOP Leadership Did It Anyway

(DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist Chad J. McNeeley/Released)

House GOP Speaker Mike Johnson pushed for sending additional aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia, even though a majority of Republicans nationwide oppose such funding.

On Saturday, 101 House Republicans voted with all Democratic members to advance a foreign aid package providing $60.8 billion to Ukraine, as well as billions more in assistance to Israel and Taiwan. However, polling shows a majority of Republican adults and voters don’t approve of sending additional aid to Ukraine, and many think the U.S. is already doing “too much” to assist the country.

“I assume that’s an intentional, not accidental, disregard for voters,” Republican strategist Mike McKenna told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “But if you’ve lived in D.C. for more than 10 minutes, you can’t be surprised.”

A late March Quinnipiac survey found that 60% of registered GOP voters believe the U.S. is doing “too much” to help Ukraine, while 63% oppose providing additional military aid to the country.

Other recent polling has yielded similar results, with a CBS News survey 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 in a statement.

Many conservative members opposed the supplemental 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.”

“Republicans do not expect us to win every battle here in Washington, but they do expect us to fight especially when it comes to the number one issue for the American people—the border. We do not have to give in to Biden, Schumer and the Democrats just because we have a thin majority,” Good added.

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 in a statement. “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 the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Nevada also oppose sending more aid to Ukraine without provisions to increase border security, with 56% saying the U.S. has “provided too much,” according to The Heritage Foundation/RMG Research, Inc. poll released April 15.

Half of the battleground state voters said it’s more important to “secure the border” compared to 11% who said “provid[ing] funding to Ukraine,” while 29% believed both are equally as vital, the poll found.

Kevin Roberts, president of The Heritage Foundation, told the DCNF in a statement 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.”

“But, as the House showed over the weekend, the Uniparty is alive and well—and shockingly out-of-touch with everyday Americans,” Roberts added.

Johnson has faced backlash from various other conservative members for advancing Ukraine aid, while a motion to vacate effort gained the support from three House Republicans ahead of the vote — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona. Greene and Massie have since called on Johnson to resign.

“We have a Republican majority because Republican voters gave it to us,” Greene wrote on X, formerly Twitter, Monday. “They want us to stop the Democrat agenda and implement our agenda. That’s our job and we told them we would use the power of the purse to do it.”

Johnson’s office pointed the DCNF toward his public comments last week on why he chose to advance the supplemental both before and after its passage upon request for comment.

“I said 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 pass the foreign aid package this week after previously approving similar legislation in mid-February. However, Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah is calling on 41 GOP senators to block the supplemental.

The U.S. has already approved over $113 billion in aid to Ukraine since the war started in February of 2022, according to the U.S. State Department Office of Inspector General.