CNN Newsroom: Interview with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA)

Interview

"I'm glad Speaker McCarthy finally did the right thing. We've been saying this for months. Just fund the government and don't make drastic cuts in school funding, don't make drastic cuts while we have an affordability crisis and people getting food stamps, don't make drastic cuts to rental assistance. McCarthy agreed. He gave, McCarthy, and our caucus everything that we wanted other than the Ukraine funding, and we said OK. Finally he's standing up to the extreme wing and we're going to about to keep the government open.

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Look, politics is about doing the right thing. These are extraordinarily privileged jobs and positions to be in. I'm glad that McCarthy put the country first and made sure that troops were going to get paid. We'll see what happens. I'd be surprised if these motions are successful.

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We need to fund Ukraine. Look, even those folks who want a diplomatic solution or who want to figure out what the end game is, can't just yank the funding. You know what happens if you yank the funding. Tomorrow Putin marches into Kyiv. All of the funding we've given in the year and a half with Zelenskyy would go down the drain and you'd basically be handing over Ukraine to Putin.

So I don't care what the mechanism is. If we have to have a separate vote because people want to vote your conscience on Ukraine, fine, do it that way. If we can get it as part of the budget deal we'll do it that way. But we have to fund it. And I have been one of the voices supporting the president but saying at the same time pursuit diplomacy, that means, though, you've got to continue to fund Ukraine.

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My understanding from the administration is that the resources are there right now for Ukraine to be able to defend themselves, but that we need to quickly move to get them resources at least within this 45-day period. What I would say is it should be taken up Monday when we're back in session because as you know these things take time. And what I wouldn't want to see happen is these 45 days go by and we don't pass anything. At some point it is going to strain Ukraine's ability to defend themselves.

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Well, Russia should not underestimate the United States' resolve. They should just look at the votes we had over the last week on giving aid to Ukraine. I voted for those bills every single time. It was about 300 plus members of the House were for Ukraine aid, about 100 or so were not. And the Senate is overwhelmingly for it. So we're going to get the aid to Ukraine. But, you know, this is going to be a big question in the 2024 presidential election.

The candidates have very different visions. President Biden is for standing with Ukraine and making sure Putin can't just march into Kyiv, and on the other side you've got President Trump who is saying end the war and basically hand Ukraine to do whatever they want to Russia. And that's going to be a big issue in the campaign.

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Thank you.

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