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The White House and congressional backers of Ukraine are fighting to save billions of dollars of funding for Kyiv in looming US budget negotiations, after House Republicans moved to only support Israel with extra aid.
US president Joe Biden last month asked Congress to approve $106bn in new funds for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific region, as well as border security and humanitarian assistance — all in a large package designed to tackle America’s top foreign policy priorities.
That plan is supported by most Democrats and crucial Republican national security hawks, particularly in the Senate. But House Republicans, serving under the new Speaker Mike Johnson, have balked at Biden’s plans, with rank-and-file lawmakers embracing former president Donald Trump’s more isolationist views on foreign policy.
On Thursday, the House is planning to vote on much narrower legislation worth $14bn that would provide aid just to Israel, leaving Ukraine’s allies in Washington increasingly worried.
About $60bn of Biden’s request to Congress was intended for Ukraine, and top US officials have warned that current American aid will only last a few more weeks before it lapses, with potentially harsh consequences for Kyiv’s forces on the battlefield.
Meanwhile, a Gallup poll published on Thursday suggests the US public is growing increasingly sceptical of Ukraine funding. According to the survey, 41 per cent of Americans believe the US is doing “too much” to support Ukraine, compared with 29 per cent who held that view in June. The share of Americans who think US backing for Kyiv is “not enough” has edged down to 25 per cent, from 28 per cent in June.
The White House is sticking to its position that all the aid needs to be passed together, and has threatened to oppose House efforts to split them.
“[Biden] wants to see this [budget package] approved in full because he believes that all of those priorities are significant, urgent, national security priorities,” John Kirby, the White House National Security Council’s spokesperson, told reporters on Wednesday. “And the keyword there is urgent.”
Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate who has championed Ukraine aid in a split with Johnson, chimed in during a speech on the floor of the upper chamber.
“America’s adversaries don’t ease up when we lose our resolve. In fact, they press their advantage,” he said. “Over and over again, history has taught us that the costs of disengaging from the world are far higher than the costs of engaging.”
Earlier in the week, top Biden cabinet members had pleaded directly for lawmakers to keep the funding package together, arguing that Ukraine and Israel are part of the same push to protect US allies around the world.
“In both Israel and Ukraine, democracies are fighting ruthless foes bent on their annihilation,” Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, said in congressional testimony. “We will not let Hamas or [Russian president Vladimir] Putin win. Today’s battles against aggression and terrorism will define global security for years to come.”
But many Republicans, including some senators, have been unconvinced by those arguments and remain sceptical of Ukraine aid. “We’re stretched way too thin,” JD Vance, the Ohio senator close to Trump, told CBS on Sunday. “Congress needs a real debate and not to collapse these packages together and pretend we can do everything at once. We can’t.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican House member from Georgia, has vowed on X, formerly Twitter, to oppose funding packages for both Ukraine and Israel, saying tackling the border crisis and curbing the national debt were more important.
The White House and Congress are debating the budget request ahead of a November 17 deadline to keep funding regular government operations, or face a partial shutdown. The last time there was such a deadline — on September 30 — Congress narrowly avoided a shutdown, but the compromise legislation stripped out Ukraine aid and led to the ousting of then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
One hope for supporters of Ukraine funding is that at some point in the coming weeks it could get added in or passed separately as part of compromise legislation. But the path to that remains very hazy.
The funding plan for Israel only that has been proposed by House Republicans was even more unpalatable to Democrats and the White House because it was paired with cuts to the Internal Revenue Service, to stop the US tax collection agency from increasing enforcement of evasion among the wealthy and large companies. The extra funding for the IRS was championed by Biden and approved by Congress last year but has triggered conservative wrath.
“After weeks of dysfunction and delay caused by the chaos of choosing a new Speaker, House Republicans only want to provide US aid to Israel by weakening the IRS’s ability to crack down on wealthy tax cheats,” said Jack Reed, the Democratic chair of the Senate armed services.
“Their proposal abandons Ukraine and also eliminates humanitarian assistance.”
Additional reporting by Felicia Schwartz
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