A majority of Republicans joined with Democrats on Thursday to vote down Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) amendment to the annual Defense bill that called for preventing any funds in the legislation from going toward assistance for Ukraine.
The chamber voted 74-343 on Greene’s measure for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), with all support coming from Republicans. Most Republicans — 138 of them — voted “no.”
The amendment specifically said “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used for assistance to Ukraine.” House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), however, took issue with the measure, noting that the NDAA does not appropriate any funds for Ukraine.
He did note that the amendment would cut off funding to maintain the presence of Marines at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv and that it would prevent the Department of Defense (DOD) from being able to monitor U.S. weapons systems already in Ukraine, urging members to vote against it.
“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,” Rogers said during debate on the House floor Thursday.
“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 U.S. already has provided to Ukraine,” he added. “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.”
Greene went on to point out that the NDAA includes nearly $300 million for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which she claimed funds Ukraine.
The lackluster support for Greene’s amendment, nonetheless, came nearly two months after the House passed a bill to send roughly $61 billion to Ukraine, which capped off a bitter, months-long debate in the GOP conference — and Republican Party overall — about the U.S.’s role in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
The issue pitted isolationist Republicans, many of whom are supporters of former President Trump, against Reagan-minded traditionalists who are in favor of interventions overseas.
A total of 112 Republicans voted against the aid for Kyiv, surpassing the 101 GOP lawmakers who supported the funding.
Greene and other members of the right-flank spoke out against sending additional aid to Ukraine, arguing that the U.S. should be more focused on domestic priorities, including the situation at the southern border.
The Georgia Republican re-upped that argument during debate on the House floor Thursday.
“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,” Greene said. “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.”
The congresswoman remarked on how much assistance the U.S. has already sent Ukraine, adding, “that’s a lot of Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars to go to support security for another country’s border while our border is being invaded every single day.”
“Not only is our border being invaded every single day by millions and millions of people from over 160 countries, it’s also a war declared on our own country with human trafficking and drugs that is killing Americans every day while 300 Americans on average are dying from fentanyl overdoses,” she added. ”I believe that should be our focus as the United States Congress.”
After the vote, Greene said she was not surprised by the outcome of for her amendment.
“I didn’t expect it to pass, the entire conference hasn’t been supporting me,” she said. “But I strongly stand, and the overwhelming support of the American people don’t want their money going to Ukraine.”
Updated at 7:12 p.m.
