On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House,” Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) responded to House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) asking for a clear articulation of the American strategy in Ukraine by stating that it’s crucial to bolster the defense manufacturing base, which the supplemental would do, and “I think that he wants to have an articulation of why this support is working, and I have to tell you, if he doesn’t have that, then he’s just not listening.”
Host Ali Velshi asked, “He’s asking for a clear articulation of the objectives and the strategy. That doesn’t sound unfair. However, if one looks at the last almost two years of this war, whatever America’s been doing has been pretty good. It brought NATO back to the table. It got everybody to up their spending in Europe. We’re not spending as much as the other partners in this war are in helping Ukraine. So, tell me what you believe he wants that would satisfy him in terms of a clear articulation of the strategy.”
Sherrill responded, “I would say that most people in the national security space, when we’re talking about our own national security here at home, what is critical to that is making sure that we are supporting our own defense manufacturing base, which this supplemental does, making sure that we are supporting democracy around the world against our enemies, such as Russia, such as Hamas, which the supplemental would help to do. I think that he wants to have an articulation of why this support is working, and I have to tell you, if he doesn’t have that, then he’s just not listening.”
She continued, “Because when we see, again, the ability — Russia and Turkey backed off of their agreement to keep the port of Odessa open, and yet, we and our NATO allies helped the Ukrainians keep that port open, keep the grain shipments going, so that they could help feed the world and also support their own economy. We have kept Russia at bay, a military that, before this war started, was considered the second-best military in the world, and now I think many people say that they’re only the second-best military in Ukraine. We’ve seen the fighters on the ground able to push back strongly against them, keep those borders from shifting, keep Kyiv safe, keep the mainland safe, and the economic stronghold, the manufacturing stronghold in the east free of the Russians so that they again can run their economy. These are the successes that America and our NATO allies have allowed for Ukraine. And beyond that, we are ensuring that Russia does not then expand its borders further into places like Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, areas of Europe that are very worried about what Russia might turn to next should they somehow be successful in Ukraine.”
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