Utah Rep. Stewart says Ukraine funding is breeding resentment, Americans need transparency

Rep. Chris Stewart said Americans who have questions about the funding to Ukraine deserve answers

Published: April 19, 2023 7:31pm

Updated: April 19, 2023 8:40pm

Utah GOP Rep. Chris Stewart says that while many Americans are sympathetic to the war in Ukraine, many would like more transparency with U.S. funding.

"It creates resentment, and anger among the American people when we are carrying the load- when the United States has pledged and contributed more than $100 billion to the Ukraine effort and the EU is something like 17 billion," Stewart said on the Wednesday edition of the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. "This is their backyard."

Last week, Stewart took a trip to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky to discuss America's role in the ongoing war. Stewart said that he expressed his concerns to Zelensky about how much the U.S. was investing in the war.

"I told the President and encouraged him to go to the EU and say he's hearing from leaders in Congress and leaders back in the United States that they won't continue to do that [fund the war] unless there's a more equitable cost sharing," he continued. "That is a perfectly appropriate thing to ask for the American people."

Stewart said that a lot of the people he represents in Utah don't want the U.S. involved in another 20 year war.

"I represent a growing number of members of Congress, and...my constituents and a growing number of Americans who want to help Ukraine," Stewart said. "They understand the humanitarian crisis that took place because of Vladimir Putin. But on the other hand, they don't want to be in a 20 year quagmire as well where we ended up spending hundreds of billions of dollars."

He said that Americans who have questions about the funding to Ukraine deserve answers.

"I don't want to cut off all funding to Ukraine," Stewart noted. "I think that there's probably an appropriate continued response from America, but we have to be respectful of all of our constituents who have serious questions. And believe me, I have those same questions. We've got to get to a better resolution than we've seeing right now."