WASHINGTON — Testimony on Russian war crimes. Monthly classified briefings. High-profile hearings, TV appearances and even op-eds in conservative media outlets.
Leading Republicans in Congress are not waiting for the next debate over assistance to Ukraine, instead launching an early and aggressive effort to make the case for why the U.S. should continue spending billions of dollars on the war effort.
One of their main challenges: winning over skeptical Republican colleagues.
“I'm very much focused on the dissension within my own party on this,” Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Associated Press.
McCaul plans to hold a hearing in the spring focused on Russian atrocities against Ukrainian civilians, to try to bring home the war's terrible toll.
“I find that moves the dial, when they see these horrific killings of children,” McCaul said.
The task ahead is challenging, particularly in the House. While Republicans have often been the nation's leading defense hawks, eager for the U.S. to defend its interests through foreign action, former President Donald Trump's “America First” approach has emboldened a noninterventionist wing that is ascendant. They are clamoring for the Ukraine aid to come to an end.
The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, said of the Republicans across the…
