VP Kamala Harris disputes Josh Hawley’s claim that U.S. is spending too much on Ukraine

Vice President Kamala Harris pushed back against Sen. Josh Hawley’s criticism over the United States’ military support for Ukraine, as support for helping Ukrainians fight back against Russia has begun to wane among Republicans.

In a speech to the Heritage Foundation last week, Hawley, a Missouri Republican, argued that funding Ukraine took resources away from what he sees as the military’s more serious threat — China.

Harris, who served in the Senate with Hawley, was dismissive of his argument.

“You should never underestimate the capacity of the United States of America to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time,” Harris said.

Her comments come the same week that President Joe Biden made an unannounced visit to Kiev, where he doubled down on his support for the country as it continues to fend off a Russian army that invaded a year ago.

“What literally is at stake is not just Ukraine, it’s freedom,” Biden said before meeting with leaders of countries on the eastern flank of the NATO alliance. “The idea that over 100,000 forces would invade another country — since World War Two, nothing like that has happened. Things have changed radically. And we have to make sure we change them back.”

Hawley, who has long been opposed to U.S. efforts to support Ukraine, dismisses the argument that supporting Ukraine is important for deterring other countries from launching invasions of their own.

“It’s rooted in the fanciful idea that if we want to stop tyrants, all we need to do is show them we’re not afraid,” Hawley said in his speech last week. “That if we stand up to one bully, all the others will just slink away. That’s Hollywood. That’s not reality. In the real world, we have limited military resources, and our adversaries know it.”

Now, after Congress appropriated more than $112 billion in funding for Ukraine in 2022, Hawley’s opposition has begun to pick up support — a recent AP poll found that just 48% of Americans said they supported sending weapons to Ukraine, down from 60% three months ago.

In his speech at the Heritage Foundation, Hawley leaned into the nationalist rhetoric he’s used to build his base — making an economic argument that the political establishment had sold out everyday Americans by opening up trade with China. He called those who supported helping the Ukrainians the “uniparty,” using a term that is popular on the far right.

But some of the most establishment Republican figures, like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, have agreed with Hawley that China is still a serious threat and that European countries need to increase their support for Ukraine.

“If you want sustained political support in America for our staying engaged and invested in maintaining a Europe that is whole, free, and at peace,” McConnell said at the Munich Security Conference Friday, “Then America’s friends on this continent must mirror the resolve and reciprocate the commitment that you hope to see from us.”