NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — With President Biden attempting to tie the two ongoing overseas conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza together in a speech earlier this month, with Democrats in control in the U.S. Senate, Kansas U.S. Senator Jerry Moran sees a hearing that is scheduled for Tuesday as vitally important in making sure whatever happens has proper oversight.
"I'm willing to consider them together, but what I've asked for and received is a commitment from our Appropriations Committee, a committee that I'm a member of, that we have hearings on the money that the President is recommending for these two arenas, but also for everything else in the supplemental. Let's not rubber stamp something that comes from the White House. My guess is, we will find things that we would say, this money doesn't need to be spent and maybe we'd have a higher priority than some of the things the President says and hopefully, he's requesting too much money, because it's a lot of money in a time when we are spending too much."
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are both scheduled to appear before the committee on Tuesday.
"We will alter the President's request before it ever comes to the Senate floor," Moran said. "I am supportive of Ukraine, assistance to Ukraine and I'm supportive of assistance to Israel, but there has to be guardrails. We have to know what we're doing and we have to make sure that we have oversight, so that the money gets spent in a way, and we're not just putting money into an unending system that never gets a result."
It is likely that if the two stay together as one subject, the framework will come from the Senate side.
"It will be easier for there to be approval of money for Ukraine and for Israel in the Senate than probably in the House," Moran said. "Both the House and Senate ought to be engaged in this."
New House Speaker Mike Johnson is adamant that the two subjects be handled separately, so it will be interesting to see what the final product is once it makes it to both sides of Capitol Hill.
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