President Biden appealed to Congress on Thursday for an additional $24 billion to help Ukraine defeat Russia’s invasion, setting up a major test of whether the expansive war effort retains the bipartisan support it has enjoyed since Moscow sent troops across the border nearly 18 months ago.
The request, part of a larger $40 billion spending package that would also pay for disaster relief and border enforcement, is the first time Mr. Biden has asked lawmakers to send more arms to Ukraine since Republicans took over the House in January promising not to “write a blank check” for the war.
The spending package comes as polls have detected growing weariness over the war among an American public focused on problems at home. Allied leaders in Europe and elsewhere are watching nervously to see if the United States will pull back from its leadership of the international coalition backing Ukraine, while analysts say that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is gambling that he can wait out the West.
Mr. Biden has made his support for Ukraine a signature of his foreign policy, arguing that it is vital to American national security to stand up to naked aggression in Europe. American weapons have been critical to Ukraine’s success in resisting Russian forces. But former President Donald J. Trump, who has praised Mr. Putin’s aggression as “genius” and refused to express support for a Ukrainian victory, could make the war a central issue in next year’s election.
“The president has reaffirmed that we will stand with Ukraine as it defends its sovereignty for as long as it takes, a strategy that has successfully united our allies and partners and equipped Ukraine to defend itself against Russian aggression,” Shalanda D. Young, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, wrote in a letter to Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California.
Mr. McCarthy said in June that any supplemental appropriation request for Ukraine was “not going anywhere” and that additional aid would have to be worked out in the regular congressional spending process. Seventy House Republicans voted last month to cut off aid to Ukraine altogether.
Although that indicates that a bipartisan majority remains in the full House, it was unclear if Mr. McCarthy would defy such a large and vocal segment of his conference to enable the package to get to the floor intact. Mr. McCarthy offered no immediate response to the president’s proposal on Thursday.
The request includes $13.1 billion for military aid to Ukraine and replenishment of Pentagon weapons stocks used for the war effort. An additional $8.5 billion would go for economic, humanitarian and other assistance to Ukraine and other countries affected by the war, and $2.3 billion would be used to leverage more aid from other donors through the World Bank.
Congress has already approved $113 billion in military, economic, humanitarian and other aid for Ukraine, including around $70 billion for security,…
2023-08-10 21:36:37
Article from www.nytimes.com
rnrn