House committee passes resolution calling on US to send long-range missiles to Ukraine

The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution Wednesday calling for the Biden administration to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles, upping the pressure on the White House and Pentagon to provide a key piece of advanced weaponry U.S. officials have long resisted sending.

The resolution calls for the U.S. to immediately provide the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to Ukraine, which would allow Ukrainian forces to strike at targets up to 200 miles away.

It also calls for the transfer of similar weapons systems from the U.S. and its allies to Ukraine, saying the failure to provide long-range missiles will prolong the war against Russia.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the chairman of the committee, said, “ATACMS are critical to Ukraine’s success in the counteroffensive.”

“There’s no reason to give Ukraine just enough to bleed but not enough to win,” he said. “It’s been my criticism all along — if we’re going to be helping them, either go all in or get out.”

The ranking member on the committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), also backed the resolution, saying he supported an effort to “prudently send long-range missile capabilities to Ukraine’s capable warfighters.”

There was some opposition from more conservative lawmakers.

Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) said he would not support sending more weapons to Ukraine without a defined mission behind support for Ukraine, concerned there may be a larger goal in Washington to grind down Russia and create regime change in Moscow.

“When you don’t define the mission, no one can be held accountable,” said Davidson. “We owe it to the [American] men and women, if we commit to a war — even a proxy war — that we define the mission before we commit to the mission.”

Before the vote, committee members shot down an amendment offered by Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) that would have called for the ATACMS to be sold to Ukraine rather than donated.

Perry said the American taxpayers did not “sign up for a war with Russia.”

“What’s happening in Ukraine is important to the world,” Perry said, but European nations “should pony up and pay the bill.”

Several lawmakers said the amendment would have created a more complex and different process to support Ukraine and noted European nations have pledged billions of dollars in assistance to Kyiv.

The passed resolution will now be debated on the full House floor, where it’s expected to have wide support. Lawmakers are increasingly pushing the U.S. to provide the weaponry that Kyiv says it needs to defend itself.

Administration concerns amid support

The Biden administration has resisted sending the ATACMS, largely over concerns that Ukraine will strike into Russian territory and escalate the war. The U.S. has carefully rolled out the transfer of advanced weapons systems to Ukraine over the duration of the war.

The U.K. last month became the first Western nation to transfer long-range missiles to Ukraine. France followed suit, announcing the transfer of missiles that can strike up to 155 miles away.

Earlier this month, members of the For Country Caucus, a bipartisan congressional committee of military veterans, sent a letter to Biden urging him to send American-made F-16 fighter jets and the ATACMS.

The caucus also requested the expedited transfer of M1 Abrams tanks, which were announced over the winter but are not likely to arrive in Ukraine until the fall.

Similarly, Biden announced an F-16 pilot training program, but the process is expected to take months, and it’s unclear when Ukraine could operate the fourth-generation aircraft on the battlefield.