GOP supports Marjorie Taylor Greene’s proposal to audit $67.3 billion Ukraine aid

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• House Republicans on Tuesday showed support for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s proposal to audit the billions of aid sent to Ukraine in its war with Russia.
• The Biden administration has been able to get $67.3 billion passed through Congress to send to Ukraine this year.
• Republicans will have the House majority in January.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, alongside 12 other Republican House members, sponsored a resolution in mid-November to audit the billions of aid the Biden administration sent to Ukraine from the day President Joe Biden took office until November 15, 2022.

Mainstream Republicans are now rallying behind Greene’s proposal to audit the $67.3 billion Biden has sent to Ukraine to aid in the war with Russia.

“The question is, is Ukraine now the 51st state of the United States of America?”Greene said at a news conference in November. “We’re asking for everything to do with military, civilian and financial aid. We want it all.”

On Tuesday, however, the resolution was defeated in a 26-22 vote in the Democrat-controlled House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The measure is the strongest signal yet that House Republicans will make it difficult for the Biden administration to ask for support for Ukraine when the new Congress is sworn in and the GOP takes a majority in the lower chamber in January.

According to House Democrats, a vote to audit the aid could send a message to Ukraine that the U.S. does not support its war with Russia.

The Biden administration has been able to get $67.3 billion passed through Congress in less than a year. An additional $37.7 billion in aid is on the table, which would bring the total to a whopping $105.5 billion. 

Republicans say Biden has essentially written a blank check for Ukraine, sending billions at every request from President Volodymyr Zelensky.

‘It’s official the Democrats have voted NO to transparency for the American people for an Audit for Ukraine,’ Greene wrote on Twitter following Tuesday’s vote. ‘But we take over in January!’ the Georgia Republican continued. ‘This audit will happen!’

Source: The Washington Post