Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February presented President Biden with a challenge no president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has faced: how to respond to the outbreak of a ground war in Europe. The president responded quickly, asking Congress to approve a $13.6 billion aid bill for Ukraine. The bipartisan bill gave Ukraine humanitarian, military and economic aid; in May, Congress passed an additional spending bill giving Ukraine $40.1 billion in aid.
Smoke billows after Russian attacks on the outskirts of Bakhmut, Ukraine, last week. “Once Republicans take control of the House (in January), isolationist opinion could gain support and passing additional aid to Ukraine could be a real challenge,” Dylan Leighton writes. Libkos/Associated Press
While both bills passed quickly though Congress, Biden now faces another issue that confronted Roosevelt: growing isolationism among Republicans. A recent poll found that only 30% of Republicans feel “it is best for the future of our country to be active in world affairs.”
Senate and House Republicans object to passing lofty spending bills while domestic issues like inflation are surging. Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged last May that “there’s always been a strand of isolationism in our party” but promised “it is not anywhere near the dominant view.”
“We only had 11 votes against the package,” said McConnell, referring to the $40 billion aid package for Ukraine. “I predict we will have even fewer votes opposed to the admission of Finland and Sweden into NATO.” (In the end, 18 Republicans lawmakers voted no to Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATO.)
As McConnell noted, this is not the first time that isolationist voices have emerged from Republicans in Congress. In the late 1930s, with the world at war, Republicans did not want to send aid to the nations fighting Germany. They feared aid to the allies would eventually drag the U.S. into the conflict. One of the most notable isolationist Republicans of the time was Sen. Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, who fought FDR’s interventionist policy at every opportunity.
“I do not believe America can be an arsenal for one belligerent nation without becoming a target for the other,” Vandenberg said, adding that “our survival is far less contingent on the outcome of European battles than it is upon our success in stopping the administration with its profligate deficit spending here at home.”
This rhetoric mirrors that of congressional Republicans today and could gain more support as the U.S. delivers the advanced long-range missile defense system known as the Patriot system to Ukraine. Russia’s Foreign Ministry called the decision a “provocative” move, adding that the U.S. has “effectively become a party” to the war.
Once Republicans take control of the House this month, isolationist opinion could gain support and passing additional aid to Ukraine could be a real challenge. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the United States just before Christmas was a clear effort to tamp down isolationist feelings and to solidify bipartisan support for aid to Ukraine.
President Biden has pledged that Ukraine will “never stand alone” as it continue its fight. While this is a nice sentiment, the decision of whether the U.S. continues sending aid to Ukraine rests in the hands of Congress, and President Biden will need support across the aisle to pass further legislation.
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