'Our national security is at stake': McCaul, Meeks warn time running out on Israel, Ukraine aid bill
- madaileingannon3
- Apr 20, 2024
- 4 min read
BY KEVIN FREY, REENA DIAMANTE AND MADDIE GANNON WASHINGTON, D.C.
PUBLISHED 11:15 AM ET DEC. 06, 2023
With the fate of President Joe Biden’s $106 billion national security package hinging on Congress’ ability to overcome partisan brinkmanship, the top Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday offered an urgent, unified message: Congress needs to act – and fast.
“I would caution my colleagues that the clock is ticking and time is running out. And it's very dangerous,” Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told Spectrum News on Tuesday.
“Our national security is at stake,” Ranking Member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y. added.
The pair made the case for the package’s swift passage in an unusual joint sit-down interview with Spectrum News – a display of bipartisanship considered a rarity on Capitol Hill these days.
Neither McCaul nor Meeks said they could guarantee the package would be approved before Congress adjourns for Christmas and New Year's. But both lawmakers said a “mass majority” of lawmakers on Capitol Hill back the pillars of the legislation, which would help Israel as it battles Hamas, support Ukraine as it fights off an invasion by Russia, assist allies in the Indo-Pacific as China exerts its influence in the region and increase security at the U.S.-Mexico border amid a rise in migrant crossings.
“Something has to get done. This is too important,” McCaul said. “We can't play politics with this, it's urgent, it's an emergency.”
“We're still working on it. Oftentimes, there are crucial things that are done in Congress because of our democracy, which is messy, and it’s done at the last second,” Meeks said. “We get up to deadlines all the time.”
“We've seen this movie before. We're not going to abandon our NATO allies. We're not going to abandon Israel or Taiwan and we're not going to keep this border wide open,” McCaul said. “I'm very optimistic we're going to get there.”
The massive package has become intertwined with delicate negotiations over border policy – as the GOP, including newly installed Speaker Mike Johnson R-La., insist any package with Ukraine aid include measures to tighten security at the border. Ukraine aid in general has become a major sticking point, with many Republicans, particularly in the House, pushing back on additional aid to the country.
“When I go back home I hear – particularly living in Texas – it's all about the border. There's not a whole lot of interest in Ukraine,” McCaul said. “And there should be because if we could have stopped Hitler in Poland, we would have stopped a major war.”
“I will say he's been persuaded by people like myself and the other national security chairs that Ukraine is important, so is Israel, so is Taiwan,” McCaul said of Johnson, who has previously voted against aid to Ukraine.
The White House on Monday warned the U.S. would run out of funding to provide weapons and assistance to Ukraine by the end of the year.
“If we don't continue to support the brave people of Ukraine, who are fighting for their own freedoms, then there comes a time that not only are we going to have to spend money for weapons and others but we're going to lose blood of our women and men,” Meeks said, adding “because Putin is not going to stop there.”
“We speak on behalf of the country, not the party when we're overseas and they look to us as the leader of the free world and for those who want to shrink from that responsibility, I go back to [former President Ronald] Reagan who inspired me, who took down the Soviet Union,” McCaul said.
Asked if he was worried his colleagues are shirking from that responsibility, McCaul replied “some.”
Meanwhile, there was one area where the two lawmakers have a divergence of opinion: former President Donald Trump’s skepticism toward NATO.
“Probably one of the things that we may disagree on is Donald Trump. I do think that Donald Trump, his policies, what he was pushing forward with reference to NATO and others, is very problematic,” Meeks said. “And I think that when I talk to allies and our friends, they will say it's problematic and they're concerned about that.”
“I think what the intent was to make sure that NATO stood up and put 2 percent of their GDP into their own defense,” McCaul said. “I think what the former president was talking about was that they have to take responsibility for their own backyard. It shouldn’t just be the United States of America.”
McCaul added, however, that the U.S. must lead.
Both lawmakers made clear there was no daylight between them on the importance of speaking with one voice on the world stage.
“Once you get to know people as human beings, then that makes a substantial difference. I have great faith in this country,” Meeks said. “This is, in fact, the greatest country on this planet you've ever seen.”
“Politics is so toxic in Washington, and so many people have given up hope in our government, and they don't believe in it anymore,” McCaul said. “I just want them to know that there are people like Greg Meeks and myself that really care about the country first over party.”
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