Incoming House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas, enthusiastically helps persevering with to assist Ukraine in its hard-fought conflict in opposition to Russia.
“I think going with the amount of investment we’ve had is very small relative to destroying the Russian military,” he informed CBS News in an interview Friday. “And that’s what we’ve done without one American soldier being attacked, killed or in country. To me, that’s a pretty good investment.”
Asked if he would favor extra closely arming the Ukrainians to deliver the conflict to a quicker conclusion, McCaul responded, “100% because the longer you drag this out, the more bloodshed.”
But when the 118th Congress is in session in January, he plans to make some adjustments. He stated he needs extra data on how U.S. funds are being spent.
“We are going to have oversight,” McCaul stated, and “transparency and accountability.”
“It’s the American taxpayer dollars at stake here,” McCaul stated. “And they deserve to know where their money is going.”
He additionally stated the Republican-led Congress will not be a “rubber stamp” for spending on navy gear for Ukraine.
“In the Republican majority, when we appropriates monies, we’re going to put language in there that basically predicates what weapons systems we think needs to go in.”
McCaul stated that proper now, Ukraine has bother hitting “the longer-range Iranian drones in Crimea.”
One of the simplest weapons programs the U.S. has offered is the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, referred to as HIMARS. The system fires a 200-pound warhead as much as 50 miles and hits inside 10 ft of its supposed goal. Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, informed CBS News’ David Martin in September that it has nearly eradicated Russia’s numerical benefit.
But McCaul stated that the HIMARS the U.S. has offered “cannot reach” Russia’s longer-range artillery.
“This administration fails to give them what they need to win,” McCaul stated.
“If we’ll do that, let’s do it proper, and let’s get it over as quick as we will, McCaul added.
