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Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s push to exclude US defense funding to Ukraine failed after a majority of Republicans sided with Democrats to block the amendment.
On Thursday, the House voted 74-343 against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s proposal. 138 Republicans joined Democrats in stopping the bill, which would have made “none of the funds made available by this Act may be used for assistance to Ukraine.” Following its failure to pass, Congresswoman Greene said, “I didn’t expect it to pass, the entire conference hasn’t been supporting me. But I strongly stand, and the overwhelming support of the American people don’t want their money going to Ukraine.”
Congressman Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, challenged Greene’s proposal, noting that none of the funds in the NDAA were even allocated to Ukraine. He said, “My colleague from Georgia will be pleased to learn that there is nothing in this year’s NDAA that authorizes assistance to Ukraine. That money is provided through the supplemental appropriations bills.” Rodgers noted that only a small portion of the bill was allocated to funding Marines stationed at the US embassy in Kyiv.
Rogers stated, “My colleague from Georgia will be pleased to learn that there is nothing in this year’s NDAA that authorizes assistance to Ukraine. That money is provided through the supplemental appropriations bills. The problem with this amendment is it would cut off funds to maintain the deployment of Marines to secure our embassy in Kyiv, and it would also cut off the DOD’s ability to conduct and use monitoring of weapons systems in the US already has provided to Ukraine. We don’t want them to fall into bad hands, we need to ensure those weapons stay in our hands. I urge members to oppose this amendment.”
Despite his statement, Congresswoman Greene argues that the NDAA allocates roughly $300 million for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which she claimed funds Ukraine. Greene and some other members of Congress argue that the United States should prioritize domestic issues over international conflicts.
She said, “Funding a war in Ukraine does not ensure our nation’s security, it actually puts us at risk with possible further military engagement with another nuclear-armed nation, and that is Russia. Americans do not support this and neither does the majority of the majority here in Congress, which have voted against funding the war in Ukraine.”
