Rep. Victoria Spartz speaks in highly personal terms about the horrors that her friends and family in Ukraine have witnessed since Russia invaded her home country more than two years ago. Her 95-year-old grandmother died several months after a bomb blew out the windows in her apartment. “The stress was hard on her,” she said.
But when it comes to the U.S. sending billions in more aid to the beleaguered country, Spartz is skeptical. The Indiana Republican, who is one of the House’s most colorful personalities, said she doesn’t support the Senate’s recently passed package that includes $60 billion in Ukraine-related spending along with funds for Israel and Taiwan. Additional money for Ukraine is expected to get a vote in some form in the House this spring.
Spartz’s opposition to the bipartisan bill is a stark example of the divisions among Republicans in Congress over further assistance to Kyiv amid opposition from many GOP voters. In a series of interviews, Spartz, 45 years old, said she wants a clearer strategy from President Biden on U.S. involvement in the war and a closer eye on how aid is spent. She also wants any aid sent to Ukraine to be offered as a loan, and for the administration to pay more attention to issues closer to home.
“I understand the importance of this battle and the implications if Russia is going to prevail, but I’m also not very naive. If we don’t have proper oversight, we are not going to achieve our goals,” she said. “We cannot have these never-ending wars.”
Voters in Spartz’s suburban Indianapolis district are opposed to Ukraine aid for many of the same reasons, she said, mirroring nationwide pressures on incumbent Republicans.
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Spartz was an early prominent voice for Ukraine. After Russia invaded in February 2022, she gave emotional speeches about neighborhoods under attack. Republican leaders gave her the microphone to criticize the Biden administration for not doing enough to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin. She joined a bipartisan push to ban oil-and-gas imports from Russia and backed a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine that May.
But she also criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, drawing a rebuke from Kyiv.
Today, Spartz says she has largely moved on from focusing heavily on Ukraine. After months of calling for further oversight and a more clearly defined U.S. strategy, she said she decided to focus on cutting government spending and increasing transparency in the healthcare industry, efforts she said were more worth her time as the Republicans took control of the House.
Wall Street Journal via MSNFor anyone else who was wondering, there
is a gender-appropriate word for what Spartz is: a
cuckquean.Hopefully she loses her primary. We might as well have a proud and true Russophile in this seat rather than someone who tries to have it both ways.
