WASHINGTON – Two Oklahoma representatives don’t want to continue handing a blank check to Ukraine.

And the brief mutiny of the Wagner Private Military Company to Russian President Vladimar Puttin  has become yet another wrinkle in what has become a very costly conflict in Eastern Europe.

Tulsa Rep. Kevin Hern, who does not oppose the U.S. supporting the former Russian satellite, wants to see an exit strategy coupled with a plan on how funds being sent are expended.  Hern heads the Republican Study Committee.

“I believe that if we’re going to spend American taxpayer money anywhere, we need to have a plan and an exit strategy,” said Hern.

Hern agrees with what Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (CA-20) has said to the Senate in terms of planning how this money going overseas is being spent.

“We’re not going to spend a single dollar on a supplemental plan for Ukraine or any other foreign incursions until we have a plan by the Pentagon and the White House of what we’re going to do with the money, what it’s buying and how we’re going to exit that theater at some point in the future.”

Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Coalgate) believes that the United States should not be spending as much as they are compared to other countries in NATO.

“It would be like pulling teeth for me to believe we need to continue spending money over there as long as NATO’s not upholding their two percent,” said Brecheen. “They’re required to spend two percent of their gross domestic product to support what’s in their backyard. We’re a massive pond away in terms of our location comparative to all those countries.”

According to Breaking Defense, only seven of 30 countries in NATO hit the two percent mark that Brecheen referred to. Brecheen went on to echo what Hern said regarding planning.

“Some countries are starting to step up, but there needs to be an exit plan with what’s happening in Ukraine. It would be different if America wasn’t facing, five years from now, a $1 trillion in annual debt service payments, which is going to be the size of our spending on defense of this country.”

On Tuesday, the Department of Defense announced that it would be sending an additional $500 million in support to Ukraine. The war shows no signs of ending anytime soon.

Gaylord News is a reporting project of the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication.  For more stories by Gaylord News go to GaylordNews.net.