House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-TX) said that the Biden administration ruling out sending F-16s to Ukraine as the war rages on is "unfortunate."
"I know the administration says 'as long as it takes,' I think with the right weapons, it shouldn't take so long and quite frankly more," McCaul said on ABC's This Week. "This whole thing is taking too long, and it really didn't have to happen this week, and quite frankly, Martha, this whole thing is taking too long."
BIDEN PLAN TO SELL F-16 FIGHTER JETS TO TURKEY DRAWS DEMOCRATIC OPPOSITION
Biden ruled out sending F-16s to Ukraine "for now" in an interview last week, insisting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "doesn't need F-16s now." Both Biden and McCaul traveled to Ukraine last week amid the anniversary of the war, but the congressman said that experts told him that Ukraine needs the planes.
"They have a window of time with a counteroffensive. That’s why it’s important, when I talked to these top military officers, to give them everything ... that you can now so they can win this thing," he added.
F-16s are powerful fighter jets that can "travel the entire country with great speed," which would give Ukrainians tremendous advantages, according to McCaul. Some have feared that sending F-16s could be too provocative and that there would be complications with delivery and ensuring Ukrainian pilots could fly them.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan defended Biden's decision on F-16s on Sunday morning and reiterated that the administration has ruled them out for the time being.
“F-16s are a question for a later time, and that’s why President Biden said that for now, he’s not moving forward with those. So as far as we’re concerned, the US effort has got to be to get Ukraine the tools it needs for the mission at hand,” Sullivan told CNN Sunday.
McCaul emphasized, however, when the U.S. gives Ukraine "what they can really use and ask for, they win. When we slow walk and slow pace this thing, it drags it out, and that's precisely what Putin wants."
McCaul has quickly emerged as one of the most vocal House Republicans to back United States's support of Ukraine, despite a growing chorus of members within Republican ranks starting to dissent to the burgeoning costs of aid.
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Some Republicans, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), have argued that the government should prioritize domestic issues such as the recent toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, over the war half a world away.
"I think that's a false choice. I think the president should've gone to Palestine where we have this major chemical spill, but it doesn't mean we disregard what's happening in this struggle for the global balance of power that we're facing right now," McCaul countered.