‘Weak and feckless.’ Rep. Andy Barr blames Biden for Russian war with Ukraine
Rep. Andy Barr is pinning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine directly on the Biden administration, issuing one of the harshest Republican critiques of the president as a potentially catastrophic war breaks out in Europe.
“These developments were not inevitable,” Barr, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said on Thursday. “The Biden Administration’s weak and feckless foreign policy not only failed to deter this aggression, it invited this outcome.”
The five-term congressman pointed to a “laundry list of missteps,” which included the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer, “which projected an unwillingness to defend our allies,” as well as the failure to negotiate a more comprehensive START Treaty last year, referring to the arms reduction agreement between the U.S. and Russia.
In a lengthy statement, Barr also cited the Biden administration’s “non-response to the Colonial Pipeline hack, the president’s unilateral waiver of Nord Stream 2 sanctions with no reciprocal commitments from Putin, Biden’s offer to withdraw missile defense from Poland” and “his failure to respond in any way to the eight-month Russian military mobilization on the Ukraine border and in the Black Sea.”
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell repeated his critique of the president for removing U.S. troops from Afghanistan, describing it as an “invitation to the autocrats in the world that maybe this was a good time to make a move.”
But McConnell also projected unity with the White House as he provided advice for what Biden should do next.
“We’re all together at this point and we need to be together about what should be done,” the Senate Minority Leader said during an event in Louisville. “Ratchet the sanctions all the way up. Don’t hold any back. Every single available tough sanction should be employed, and should be employed now. There’s no such thing as a little invasion.”
Biden said the new sanctions he would be imposing would be crushing to Russia, as the U.S. moved to cut off the country’s largest banks and companies from western financial markets. The president also said he would restrict exporting technology there as well as freeze trillions of dollars in Russian assets, including those controlled by Russian elites and their families.
Germany had previously announced it was halting construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which Barr referred to.
But it was Barr who went further than any other member of Kentucky’s congressional delegation in laying out a comprehensive assessment of the Biden administration failures.
The Lexington-area congressman said Biden’s efforts to lift sanctions on a group of 35 Russians who have been identified for repressing human rights also led to this perilous moment, as well as Biden’s appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin to cooperate in the Iran nuclear deal.
“Biden’s stubborn refusal to impose sanctions until after Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine…sent a dangerous signal to Vladimir Putin that this president would not challenge him” Barr said.
Now, Barr said, the U.S., along with its NATO allies, should issue a “bold, overwhelming” response that “must reverse the policy mistakes of the last year.”
Those included additional arms sales to Ukraine, establishing a new Ukraine Resistance Fund to help Ukrainians resist Russian attempts to occupy the country and “substantial additional funding for large scale U.S. military exercises,” that reflect U.S. obligations to NATO.
Domestically, Barr said the administration should reverse its blockage of a permit to produce the Keystone XL Pipeline as well as encourage energy production on federal lands and in the Gulf of Mexico.
Analysts believe Russia’s assault on Ukraine will send gas prices even higher in the coming days, contributing to more overall inflation. The White House has begun signaling to U.S. oil companies it is looking for more domestic energy production to prevent a dramatic spike at the pump.
The reactions from the rest of Kentucky’s delegation were either more limited or conventional.
Sen. Rand Paul, a longtime critic of U.S. intervention abroad, issued a single-line statement that did not prescribe what role U.S. forces should have.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will further isolate Russia and lead to a pariah status not seen since the Cold War ended,” Paul said.
Charles Booker, the leading Democrat running to unseat Paul this fall, said the U.S. should “lead with diplomacy and humanity” and immediately increase its capacity to accept Ukrainian refugees.
Rep. James Comer condemned Putin’s “brazen, unprovoked…aggression,” calling for “swift action,” without specifying how the U.S. and its allies should respond. Rep. Hal Rogers said the U.S. “must be bold in holding Russia accountable,” but did not describe what that should entail.
Rep. John Yarmuth, the sole Democrat in the delegation, said “the world must stand together in opposition to such evil,” but did not elaborate beyond a tweet.
Rep. Thomas Massie signed a letter telling Biden he has no authority to engage in a war with Russia without congressional approval. Biden has previously said he would not send U.S. troops to fight a war over Ukraine.
A spokesperson for Rep. Brett Guthrie did not respond to a request for a reaction.
But it is Barr who appears to be embracing a prominent role in responding to this foreign policy crisis, noting that he’ll be pressing Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman about “the administration’s weakness on Russia that enabled the invasion of Ukraine” during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing next Wednesday.
