'Supporting NATO': Biden defends Ukraine aid as House GOP warns no 'blank check'

Katherine Doyle

October 21, 01:48 PM October 21, 01:48 PM

President Joe Biden said U.S. support for Ukraine is essential to European and trans-Atlantic security against Russia, as some Republicans warn the spending could face hurdles after the midterm elections.

“If we’re supporting Ukraine, we’re supporting all of Europe. We're supporting NATO,” Biden told reporters at the White House Friday. “Do you think that Mr. Putin decides he's just going to deal with Ukraine and that's the end of it?”

Biden said he didn’t “understand the threat that [Republicans are] saying they may have to stop funding the Ukrainians in their war against this brutal dictator.”

MCCARTHY WARNS NO MORE ‘BLANK CHECK TO UKRAINE’ IF GOP CAPTURES HOUSE

Speaking at a political fundraiser in Pennsylvania a day earlier, Biden warned that the issue “is a lot bigger than Ukraine.”

“It’s Eastern Europe. It’s NATO. It’s really serious, serious consequential outcomes,” the president said, charging that Republicans who oppose the support “have no sense of American foreign policy.”

Biden’s comments come as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said this week that if Republicans win control of the House next month, lawmakers will not provide a “blank check” to Ukraine.

“I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine,” McCarthy told Punchbowl News. “They just won’t do it.”

Republicans are forecast to take control of the House, recent polls suggest.