Rifts in both parties as Congress weighs aid to Ukraine, Israel
| Washington
Rep. Jared Golden knows firsthand the toll of war. The Maine Democrat fought as a Marine infantryman in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Now he鈥檚 in the midst of a different battle, a political one. Congress is preparing to vote on sending U.S. aid to allies facing America鈥檚 three most powerful adversaries: Russia, Iran, and China.聽
Like many lawmakers, Representative Golden is getting pressure from constituents on how he should vote. They call his office upset that he鈥檚 not doing more to advance aid to Ukraine, which is locked in a stalemate with the Russian military and running out of ammunition. Some of the same people are also angry that he is supporting Israel as it retaliates against an Oct. 7 attack by Iranian proxy Hamas, and the Gaza death toll climbs to nearly 35,000.聽
A Senate bill to help both allies, along with Taiwan, passed the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. But similar efforts have foundered in the House, where the battle lines are drawn not only between parties but also within them. Speaker Mike Johnson has broken the foreign aid package into several parts in a bid to get them through with as little damage to his speakership and the razor-thin Republican majority as possible. The votes are expected Saturday, but it鈥檚 unclear whether they will succeed.
Why We Wrote This
Lawmakers face increasing political pressure from within their parties over aid to Israel and Ukraine as the presidential election approaches. Some say politics have obscured serious security debates.
Often lost amid the politics is a serious bipartisan policy debate over what are America鈥檚 real interests abroad, and what the costs of upholding them 鈥� or not 鈥� would be.
鈥淲ar is terrible, and sometimes necessary. So what I think is difficult is watching our politics lose sight of that,鈥� Mr. Golden says. 鈥淭he political debate here is lacking in real-world experience, and therefore lacks consistency.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 all gotten way too partisan鈥� 鈥� and too wrapped up in presidential campaign politics, adds Mr. Golden, noting a 鈥渞apid change鈥澛爄n Democrats鈥� position on Israel and a Republican about-face on Ukraine. Ten years ago, GOP lawmakers聽lambasted the Obama administration for a weak response to Moscow鈥檚 annexation of聽Crimea from Ukraine.聽
Though there have always been outliers on the left and right on foreign policy, for decades there was a strong bipartisan core that supported defending U.S. interests and allies abroad with robust aid, including military aid. But as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wore on, and eventually ended 鈥� without clear victories and at a cost of thousands of American lives and trillions of dollars 鈥� that political support started to erode.
Democratic politics, driven in part by the rapid rise of the racial justice movement in 2020, started gravitating more toward championing downtrodden minorities 鈥� including Palestinians. And Republicans, animated by former President Donald Trump鈥檚 鈥淎merica First鈥� populism, have grown wary of intervening abroad.
Israel remains an exception on the right. Meanwhile, persistent concerns on the left that Mr. Trump is sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin have perhaps added to the Democratic enthusiasm for rallying around Ukraine.
Republican divide over Ukraine
GOP Rep. Michael McCaul, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, says he has to聽explain the national security interest to聽colleagues, some of whom聽were born after聽the Cold War era.聽Their war memories are dominated by pointless stalemates in the Middle East more than victory in Europe or decades spent defending that victory against an expansionist Soviet Union.聽
鈥淲e can stop Putin here by letting Ukraine fight their own war鈥� 鈥� with the help of U.S. weapons, says Representative McCaul, whose father fought in the D-Day invasion of 1944 to repel the Nazi forces, something that he says wouldn鈥檛 have been necessary if Hitler had been stopped earlier. Aiding Ukraine now would mean 鈥渟aving a lot of blood and treasure down the road.鈥澛�
But other Republicans don鈥檛 see a path to victory in Ukraine. They 鈥� and their constituents 鈥� don鈥檛 want to send any more 鈥渂lank checks鈥� to fund the effort, especially given record U.S. debt and concerns about securing America鈥檚 own borders amid a migrant influx.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we ought to be borrowing money we don鈥檛 have to send it to Ukraine with no plan and no limit to U.S. involvement,鈥� says Rep. Bob Good, head of the right-wing Freedom Caucus that has been a thorn in the side of Speaker Johnson鈥檚 efforts to pass a foreign aid package over the past six months. He professed himself unmoved by a Trump-inspired tweak to make some of the Ukraine aid a loan, expressing doubt it would ever be paid back.
Even GOP Rep. Victoria Spartz, a Ukrainian American congresswoman from Indiana who understands better than most what is at stake, says she has reservations about sending Ukraine aid. She鈥檚 frustrated with the Biden administration鈥檚 lack of accountability for funds already sent and the inefficacy of his strategy so far, including the slow-walking of aid early on, which she says emboldened Mr. Putin and gave him time to regroup. 鈥淵ou do not deal with Putin 鈥榓s long as it takes,鈥欌�� she says, quoting the president鈥檚 2022 vow. 鈥淵ou deal with him as fast as you can.鈥澛�
Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker, who served under the George W. Bush administration, points out that when Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, that GOP administration sprang into action 鈥� in concert with its European allies. But unlike Mr. Bush, President Joe Biden has been reticent to use force, calling instead for de-escalation in hopes of preventing wider conflagration between both Israel and Iran, and Ukraine and Russia.
鈥淚n my view, the problem with that is it produces the opposite result,鈥� says Mr. Volker. 鈥淚t basically gives an assurance to the aggressors that nothing is going to happen to them, so they keep going.鈥澛�
Democratic shift on Israel
On Israel, the GOP has been in lockstep on aid, but Democrats have yo-yoed. Many rallied around it after the Oct. 7 attack, as well as after last weekend鈥檚 barrage of missiles and drones from Iran 鈥� the first direct Iranian attack on Israeli soil. But overall, wariness about U.S. support for Israel has grown聽amid a cloud of concerns. The Gaza death toll has mounted. The International Court of Justice has聽聽on Israel to prevent genocide in Gaza and to enable urgently needed humanitarian assistance. And Mr. Biden has come under pressure from the progressive left, young voters, and Arab Americans in Michigan 鈥� a key swing state.
Hadar Susskind, president of Peace Now, says when he and his organization called three years ago for conditioning aid to Israel, not a single member of Congress publicly supported that position. Now, the idea has entered the mainstream.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 鈥榯he Squad鈥� or a handful of far-left members,鈥� he says, citing recent supportive statements by House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. 鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about the establishment of the establishment Democrats saying what we鈥檝e been saying for a long time 鈥� U.S. aid to Israel is important, but it needs to align with American values.鈥�
Majority Leader Schumer gave a last month that was widely interpreted as not only warning Israel but also addressing progressives鈥� frustration with Mr. Biden in an election year. He acknowledged the difficulty of fighting a foe that hides behind civilians and is still holding hostage 130 individuals, including some of his New York constituents. But, adding that the United States has an obligation to help its ally toward lasting peace and security, he also called on Israel to address the 鈥渉umanitarian catastrophe鈥� in Gaza and lay the groundwork for a two-state solution.聽
鈥淲e should not be forced into a position of unequivocally supporting the actions of an Israeli government that includes bigots who reject the idea of a Palestinian state.鈥�
Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the few Muslim members of Congress, a longtime critic of Israel, and one of the four progressive women originally dubbed the Squad, says there鈥檚 a shift in Congress toward recognizing the humanity of Palestinians but adds that there鈥檚 鈥渟till a long way鈥� to go for people to see them as being worthy of dignity and safety.聽
As for the president, she acknowledges that there鈥檚 been a shift in rhetoric. 鈥淏ut I think people want to see action that follows that.鈥�
