In an interview with , Director of Communications at the Ukrainian Congressional Committee of America, Andriy Dobryanskyi, spoke about the political crisis in the US Congress, when the US Parliament can begin work, what issues regarding support for Ukraine will be considered during 2023, and whether this support will decrease due to the wishes of Trumpists “get” President Joe Biden.

Mr. Andriy, can you explain why the 118th US Congress has been unable to elect a speaker for several days?

They stubbornly do not want to elect Republican Kevin McCarthy (leader of the Republicans in the US House of Representatives, – ) as speaker. It is possible that they will continue to vote until Kevin McCarthy refuses to be a candidate for this position. Then the leadership can go to Steve Scalise. And if not him, then there are five or six more people on the list… Such a situation was already in 1923, a century ago. Such a situation already existed in 1998, when the sixth person on the list of the Republican Party was chosen as the speaker.

However, the situation was calmer then, and today the election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives is an urgent matter. After all, the new Congress has to start work.

In my opinion, the issue will be resolved already this week. Everyone would like to see the speaker elected by Friday, January 6. Then they could have the weekend to go to their constituencies. In addition, due to the non-election of the speaker, the newly elected members of Congress did not take the oath. And if there is no agreement by January 13, then, for example, congressmen’s assistants will not be able to receive their first salary this year.

Congressman Kevin McCarthy became famous after saying “Ukraine will not receive a blank check.” If he is eventually elected speaker, do you think it could negatively affect support for Ukraine in the new Congress?

I wouldn’t take into account what people said on the eve of the midterm elections. Then a lot of hot words were heard. However, all these are pre-election statements.

For example, the new senator from Ohio said during the campaign that he stands with President Trump. Like, everyone should understand how much money the USA gives to Ukraine. But now he has become a state senator, in which many Ukrainians live. Perhaps now he will change his mind, because he will have to find a common language with his voters in Ohio.

I will be meeting Daniel Goldman in the near future. He is a new congressman in New York – the city with the largest concentration of Ukrainian organizations. Before the election, he had no position on Ukraine, but now he will represent a large community and participate in the Ukrainian caucuses in Congress. We are ready to present our community and cooperate with it.

Thus, whoever heads the House of Representatives, it will not affect support for Ukraine. Unless they choose a very radical candidate. But how will a radical candidate become chairman without the support of the entire chamber? It was very strange.

The worst situation for Ukraine will be if the election of the speaker is delayed for two months. After all, important draft laws cannot be adopted without an active House of Representatives. Divided congressmen due to lack of agreement and a “frozen” America are what our enemy would like to see.

Do you think bipartisan support for Ukraine will remain in the new Congress?

So. Support for Ukraine is bipartisan. We have a Ukrainian caucus among congressmen and senators who support our country. There are about fifteen people in the Senate, and four co-chairs and about forty to fifty congressmen in the Congress.

For example, the Republican Party team has Brian Fitzpatrick as co-chairman of the Ukrainian caucus. He visited Ukraine and knows the Ukrainian community very well. This is a very strong and influential voice for Ukraine.

Another co-chair of the Ukrainian caucus is a representative of the Democratic Party, Marcy Kaptur. She became one of the congresswomen who said they would vote for a different candidate for the post of speaker from the Republican party if the chairmanship of some committees was given to Democrats. As you can see, there are very influential friends of Ukraine in both parties.

You said that due to the delay in the election of the speaker, some draft laws regarding Ukraine cannot be adopted. What documents are we talking about?

We are talking about all bills that were not considered by the 117th Congress until the end of December. That is, they should all be offered again, get new numbers and sponsors.

The issue of recognizing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism has not yet been considered. It is also about the resolution regarding the recognition of Russia’s actions as genocide of the Ukrainian people. In addition, we can mention the draft law on the inclusion of PMK “Wagner” in the list of terrorist organizations. Most of the aid bills have not even begun to be considered because they have not yet passed the review of all committees.

By the way, some projects can be considered in the committees of the month and move from last year several times. For example, one of the congressmen, Jerry Connolly, every year since 2014 had a bill on the official non-recognition of the annexation of Crimea by Russia. He proposed such a separate bill several times. But then this issue was eventually included in another project. Now, every American budget, starting in 2016, includes a number about non-recognition of territories occupied by Russia.

But is it possible to expect that some of the bills you mentioned will be adopted in 2023?

In my opinion, it is necessary to wait for internal American weldings in Congress to settle. We already know: whoever becomes speaker of the House of Representatives, the Republican Party would like to create various scandals against President Joe Biden. They would like to investigate many issues publicly. That is, we understand what kind of business they will be engaged in.

However, we expect that by September of this year, Republicans and Democrats will find an opportunity to cooperate. That is, when the budget runs out in September, it will have to be extended. But I don’t think we will see any draft laws on Ukraine before the summer.

That is why it was very important that the Congress, even before the end of 2022, agreed on the government budget for 2023, which included 45 billion dollars in aid to Ukraine. We were very worried that aid to Ukraine would not decrease.

On the eve of the new year, Congress also supported an amendment by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs and transfer them to Ukraine. Do you know the amount in question and when the USA will be able to transfer it to Ukraine?

We are currently awaiting an official report from the Treasury Department that will provide Congress with information on available funds. This should happen within 90 days after the signing of this Law. So far, it is known that we are talking about several hundred million dollars. But we will be able to hear the official numbers from congressmen in March.

Ukrainian days will be held in the newly elected Congress on March 8-9. These will be the days when the Ukrainian community in the USA gathers in Washington. We will discuss aid for Ukraine, support for displaced persons and, in particular, this issue with congressmen.

In late 2022, a committee of the US House of Representatives rejected a resolution to audit military aid to Ukraine, which was promoted by Republicans. Why is the US talking about an aid audit at all, can the new Congress return to this issue?

I don’t think the audit resolution was a fair proposal. This question was only to show his fight against robbing Americans. But if it was an honest proposal, I think it would be supported. After all, many friends of Ukraine in the US Congress would also like an audit. I don’t mean those who support Trump.

For example, some would like to see an investigation into why not enough humanitarian aid has reached Ukraine through the funds. We are talking about the signed bill on the provision of billions of dollars in aid. But there are many questions: does everything go directly to Ukraine, or does everything go through international funds, such as the UN, the Red Cross and others. That is, there are specific reasons why we should see investigations and audits.

For example, in 2014 there were already similar investigations in the Senate. Then Senator McCain asked Obama’s advisers about the implementation of the signed law on aid to Ukraine. He was looking at the list and asking why blankets were handed over to Ukraine, for example, but thermal imagers were not handed over? Like, where is all the aid that the USA promised to Ukraine? That is, it was about the provision of aid, but neither Ukraine nor the United States understood whether the States had really transferred it. All this was checked in 2014 and 2015.

Now the situation has changed, because the special inspector for the investigation [таких питань] every department already has.

In any case, the topic of audit always causes resonance. There is a point of view that the rhetoric of Republicans is reflected in the views of US citizens. Do American citizens not understand why to provide aid to Ukraine?

Enemies of Ukraine in Congress want to talk about how much money was provided for support. Those who want to talk only about numbers probably do not want to help Ukraine. They want people to be shocked at how much this aid has cost the US. For example, one Patriot battery can cost a million, which sounds like a lot.

You know, when I talk to Ukrainian journalists about aid, they ask: “Why so little?”. And when I talk to American journalists, they say: “Why so many?”. Therefore, it is necessary to improve communication with the public. People look at the numbers, but do not understand the meaning and number of weapons transferred. It needs to be explained more that the US has to give more.

By the way, the votes for not providing support to Ukraine belong mainly to those politicians who support former US President Donald Trump. But they insist on this diet only in order to have some oppositional idea. Do you understand? If all the USA were against Ukraine, then such politicians, on the contrary, would stand with Ukraine to have such an idea.

Speaking of Trumpists, how influential is their wing in the US Congress? Can they block any decisions in support of Ukraine?

Perhaps you can say that Trump is supported by 40-50 people. But every month it can be seen that his support in Congress is weakening due to the scandals associated with him. For example, we heard that the “January 6” committee completed its work last month (the House of Representatives committee investigated the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and recommended that the US Department of Justice open criminal proceedings against Trump on four articles, ). Trump may have even less influence this year.

Tellingly, McCarthy lost the vote again even after Trump called for his support. At the moment, it is Trump supporters who do not want to elect McCarthy to the post of speaker.

Regarding the situation in the Congress and its support for Ukraine, everything depends on who will become the heads of the committees.

Anastasia Svitlevska

Anastasia Svitlevska