Democratic midterm gains could speed US military aid to Ukraine, lawmaker says

Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence addresses the Warsaw Security Conference (Warsaw Security Conference)

BELFAST — The pace of US military aid to Ukraine is likely to ramp up if Democrats win control of the House of Representatives and Senate in November’s midterm elections, according to the top Democrat on the House’s intelligence committee.

A switch in power “does change things,” Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said today at the Warsaw Security Conference .

“It means that aid packages [to Ukraine] move not in nine months, but in nine days or nine weeks on the outside, and that the message [of support to Ukraine] is very different,” he said.

Himes comments come amid reports that the Trump administration has threatened to stifle the procurement system supplying weapons to Ukraine in a bid to pressure Kyiv into ending deep strikes against Russian energy infrastructure. On Sunday, US President Donald Trump announced an energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. He has also received bipartisan criticism for temporarily lifting restrictions on Russian diesel exports.

Under NATO’s Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative, NATO allies and partners fund the purchase of US-sourced weapons and equipment for Ukraine, with NATO coordinating deliveries. The mechanism depends on Washington making those weapons available for purchase, meaning the Trump administration could still affect the flow of European-funded military assistance by restricting access to US equipment.

If Democrats gain control of both chambers and the budget, Trump could be forced to negotiate with the party to fund his priorities, Himes said. In exchange for accepting those terms, Democrats would “demand” that the president adopts a “much more affirmative and consistent policy in support of Ukraine.”

Himes said polling and prediction markets suggest the midterms could deliver “a fairly massive repudiation of the president,” though he argued that the result would not be driven directly by Trump’s Russia-Ukraine policy.

“It will be because, in a remarkable political experiment,” Trump said he would not go to war in the Middle East and would lower living costs, he said.

“And he did precisely the opposite of both those things,” Himes said. “What happens in November is going to be almost certainly a switch of control in the House of Representatives, and quite likely a switch of control in the Senate.”

Speaking in Warsaw on Monday, Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, chair of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, deferred to NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Alexus Grynkewich , when offering thoughts on Ukraine and Iran.

Grynkewich “thinks we’re up to the task with regard to helping Ukraine and finishing whatever the President [Trump] intends to do after the election in Iran,” Wicker explained. “My viewpoint, and I’ve expressed this publicly and told the president, my viewpoint is that the memorandum of understanding and stopping and starting [peace negotiations] was not a good idea with regard to Iran.”

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众议院常设情报特别委员会资深成员吉姆·海姆斯在华沙安全会议上发表讲话（华沙安全会议）

贝尔法斯特——据众议院情报委员会首席民主党议员称，如果民主党在11月的中期选举中赢得众议院和参议院的控制权，美国对乌克兰的军事援助速度可能会加快。

康涅狄格州众议员、众议院常设情报特别委员会资深成员吉姆·海姆斯今天在华沙安全会议上表示，权力更迭“确实会改变一些事情”。

他说：“这意味着（对乌克兰的）援助物资在外部的运送时间不是九个月，而是九天或九周，而且（对乌克兰的支持）信息也截然不同。”

海姆斯发表上述言论之际，有报道称，特朗普政府威胁要扼杀向乌克兰供应武器的采购系统，以此向基辅施压，迫使其停止对俄罗斯能源基础设施的纵深打击。周日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普宣布乌克兰和俄罗斯之间实现能源停火。他还因暂时解除对俄罗斯柴油出口的限制而受到两党批评。

根据北约的“乌克兰优先需求清单”（PURL）倡议，北约盟国和伙伴国出资为乌克兰购买美国提供的武器装备，北约负责协调交付。该机制依赖于华盛顿方面确保这些武器可供购买，这意味着特朗普政府仍可通过限制获取美国装备来影响欧洲资助的军事援助。

海姆斯表示，如果民主党掌控参众两院和预算，特朗普可能被迫与民主党谈判，以获得其优先事项的资金。作为接受这些条件的交换，民主党将“要求”总统采取“更加积极和一致的支持乌克兰的政策”。

希姆斯表示，民调和预测市场表明，中期选举可能会“对总统进行相当大的否定”，但他认为，选举结果不会直接受到特朗普的俄罗斯-乌克兰政策的影响。

特朗普说：“这将是一次非凡的政治实验”，他表示，他不会在中东发动战争，并且会降低生活成本。

“但他做的恰恰与这两件事都相反，”海姆斯说。“11月份发生的事情几乎肯定会导致众议院的控制权易手，而且很可能也会导致参议院的控制权易手。”

周一，密西西比州参议员、参议院军事委员会主席罗杰·威克在华沙发表讲话时，就乌克兰和伊朗问题发表了看法，但他将发言权让给了北约欧洲盟军最高司令亚历克西斯·格林克维奇将军。

威克尔解释说：“格林克维奇认为我们有能力帮助乌克兰，并完成总统（特朗普）在伊朗大选后打算做的任何事。我的观点是，我已经公开表达过并告诉过总统，就伊朗问题而言，谅解备忘录以及反复中断（和平谈判）并不是一个好主意。”

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