The Biden administration is facing competing pressures in Congress over U.S. troop deployments to Europe as fears grow that Russia could soon launch a massive invasion of Ukraine.
Lawmakers in both parties are praising President Joe Biden's move, announced Wednesday by the Pentagon, to deploy or reposition about 3,000 troops around Europe.
But some lawmakers are also questioning whether that will be enough to reassure anxious NATO allies and deter Russia from launching an assault. Meanwhile, a small but vocal faction of Republicans are hammering Biden for deploying any troops after influential conservatives questioned why the United States should take Ukraine's side in the standoff.
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The congressional debate came as administration officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley, briefed the full House and Senate on Thursday on the current situation with Russia and Ukraine.
Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine, and the Biden administration has warned that Russia could launch an invasion at any point. Such a move would mark an escalation after Russia invaded the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in 2014 and continues backing separatists in the Donbas region.
Administration officials reportedly briefed Congress on Russian plans to use a fake video of Ukrainians attacking Russia as a pretext for war, according to The New York Times.
While lawmakers would not confirm details of the classified briefing, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, told reporters that Russia is "in the process of producing movies, producing press releases, producing false proof that the Ukrainians are doing something to provoke them."
In the face of Russia's potential action, the United States is deploying about 2,000 soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division and 18th Airborne Corps from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Germany and Poland. Another 1,000 soldiers with an Army Stryker squadron already stationed in Germany are being repositioned to Romania.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who recently led a congressional delegation to Ukraine and co-leads a congressional caucus supporting NATO, called the deployment a "good start," but added that "we need to continue to assess the situation" to see whether more troops will be needed.
Risch told reporters he thinks those numbers are enough to reassure the United States' NATO allies.
"This wasn't done in a vacuum. This was done in negotiations with" NATO allies, he added.
The deployments are on a rotational basis, but Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., said after the House briefing that the administration should also consider more permanent troops close to NATO's eastern front.
"I encourage the administration, as I have in past administrations, to look at what is our forward deployed presence in Europe and whether or not we have to build that forward deployed presence up," he said.
In addition to the troops now deploying, another 8,500 U.S. troops are on alert to deploy if NATO activates its Response Force.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., the other co-lead of the NATO caucus who highlighted that the deploying service members are coming from his state, said he would expect U.S. troop levels to "ebb and flow" as the situation unfolds, citing the troops on alert.
While in general there is bipartisan agreement on the need to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, that unity is being threatened by some Republicans in the wake of former President Donald Trump's friendlier attitude toward Russia. Fox News host Tucker Carlson also had several recent segments defending Moscow's troop buildup and questioning why the United States would side with Ukraine.
On Thursday, Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., who served as an ambassador during the Trump administration, railed against Biden for allowing Putin to have "gotten away with everything that he might possibly hope for."
But asked whether the U.S. troop level in Europe is sufficient to counter Putin after the new deployments, Hagerty replied that "we need to send troops to our southern border before we send troops to protect the borders of other nations."
-- Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.
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