House Republicans in lockstep calling for more action on Ukraine, even as some on right oppose doing more
Several House Republicans Tuesday said they want President Biden to do more to punish Russia
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}House Republicans are railing against Russian President Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine, calling for increased sanctions on Russia and slamming President Biden for not doing enough.
"There's a lot more we can do," Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said Tuesday. "The problem is the president hasn't led… My colleague Victoria Spartz, she said it better than anybody… We have a responsibility to the world to lead. There's a reason why the president of the United States is called the leader of the free world."
Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., who emigrated from Ukraine, speaks about the war in Ukraine during a Republican news conference ahead of the State of the Union, Tuesday, March. 1, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) (Associated Press)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., is from Ukraine and made an emotional plea at a House GOP press conference for western assistance for Ukraine as Putin's forces bombard the country. She warned "millions" could die otherwise.
Republicans did not take their eye off the political ball during a Tuesday press event. They attacked Biden and Democrats over inflation and COVID policies and schools. But at times the event resembled a rally for Ukraine as much it did a forum for lawmakers to attack Biden ahead of his State of the Union speech.
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., speaks to Fox News at CPAC 2022. (Fox News Digital)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., handed out small ribbons with the colors of Ukraine's flag on them. He said his staff made about 300 of them.
"Right now he has all the tools he needs to destroy our country unless we come to the aid of Ukraine," Issa said, lamenting that Biden didn't institute sanctions against Russia sooner. "That's the question that will be with us tonight. Will you change your posture and bring the kind of aid to those freedom fighters that they need? That means real weapons, getting in there in a timely fashion."
"He could have sold the Ukrainians surface-to-air missiles a long time ago… and he didn't," Rep. Fred Keller, R-Pa., said of Biden and Ukraine. "Ukraine needs to have the ability to defend themselves."
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Keller also called for the U.S. to increase domestic oil production "so that our adversaries do not have… the resources to wage war on anyone around globe. "
There is, however, a small faction in the GOP, most visibly led in recent weeks by Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance, that opposes such international involvement by the U.S. especially while domestic problems like the opioid crisis and border crisis persist.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}JD Vance, co-founder of Narya Capital Management LLC and U.S. Republican Senate candidate for Ohio, speaks during a campaign event in Huber Heights, Ohio, U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. Vance says his Silicon Valley experience makes him ideal to take on big technology companies, a favorite target of Republicans, but hell have to brush off attacks from rivals who question his sincerity on tech issues. Photographer: Gaelen Morse/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Gaelen Morse/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"We got a lot of flack in the last week that because I had the audacity to suggest that before our leaders obsess over a Ukrainian and Russian border 6,000 miles away maybe they better guarantee the sovereignty of their own country and their own border first," Vance said at CPAC.
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"There is a leadership in this country that is constantly focused on stuff that has nothing to do with the citizens of our country," Vance added. "I'm sick of being told that we have to care more about people 6,000 miles away than we do about my mom and my grandparents."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But few other Republicans are making the same case. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy each came out forcefully against Russia in recent days – even if they would criticize Biden for being too weak on Putin in the same breath.
Their members were in near lockstep on their hawkish approach, too.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Number one would be let's stop Russian gas sales," Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told Fox News Digital Tuesday when asked what message he hopes Biden delivers in his State of the Union. "We're paying $70 million per day, Americans are, to Russia for fuel. If he could attack that I would give him huge kudos for that. But I know he's afraid of raising American gas prices while he's also cut our own oil production."
"I think we should definitely consider doing more. I think there is risk of genocide and in the Ukraine," Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., said.
"I think they should," increase the United States' response to the Russia-Ukraine war Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., said. "It should be… multi-pronged, which is the sanctions themselves… and then the weaponry."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News' Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.