In an interview Sunday, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace said lawmakers will need to “find balance” in aiding Ukraine as US President Joe Biden questions her party’s commitment to helping combat the Russian invasion.
Mace, appearing on State of the Union, was asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper whether she supported House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s assertion that the GOP would not write a “blank check” to Ukraine if they are in the majority.
“It is something that we’re going to have to find balance on next year,” she said, due to the threat of a recession and Republican promises to cut government spending.
“If we keep — keep writing these blank checks to other countries, if we increase the deficit spending or government spending any more than we already have, we’re going to — we are going to exacerbate the situation,” Mace continued. “But make no mistake. Ukraine is very important, not only to the United States economy, but to countries all around the world.”
She said Russian President Vladimir Putin has “lost his marbles,” but argued McCarthy’s comments do not risk further emboldening him. Instead, she pointed at US infighting as a whole.
“The divisions that we have, and unwilling to work together on some of these issues and just the fighting, it makes us look weak on the world stage,” she told Tapper.
Biden questions Republican commitment: Biden has seized on McCarthy’s comments and similar remarks from some Republicans, framing the position as undermining US leadership in an increasingly volatile world.
“These guys don’t get it,” Biden said at a fundraiser in Philadelphia Thursday. “It’s a lot bigger than Ukraine — it’s Eastern Europe, it’s NATO. It’s real, serious, serious consequential outcomes. They have no sense of American foreign policy.”
