Bloomberg – President Joe Biden’s administration and top Republicans sought to reassure Ukraine that U.S. military aid will not stop after the House omitted funding for the aid in a short-term spending bill.
The decision to halt aid to Ukraine – at least for now – represents a blow to President Volodymyr Zelensky, who met last week with Biden and lawmakers and personally called for new weapons systems, including F.16 fighter jets and longer-range ATACMS missiles.
While support for Ukraine remains strong, especially in the Senate, the House of Representatives on Saturday passed a bipartisan bill to prevent a U.S. government shutdown that eliminated $6 billion in funding for the country’s war against the Russian invasion. Support may be provided on a separate invoice in the future.
President Kevin McCarthy has indicated he will try to tie the aid to changes in US border policy that Democrats oppose.
Senator Jim Risch, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said on Saturday that he was confident that funding for Ukraine would continue and that there was “absolutely no doubt” about Republican support for such funding.
“It is not the end of the allocation process,” he added. “Funding for Ukraine will come to an end.”
Lawmakers from both parties who support funding for Ukraine said the matter could be handled separately. A White House official welcomed the bill passed by the House of Representatives, and said that the Biden administration expects that aid to Ukraine will be dealt with separately.
“No one should take this as a message that there is some decline in the commitment that the United States has made to Ukraine,” Risch said.
Continued support from the United States and its allies is vital for Zelensky, as his forces struggle to advance against Russian forces who still occupy about 17% of his territory, raising doubts about his ability to completely expel them.
Cracks have begun to appear in Kiev’s support, and Poland, a key ally, this month threatened to suspend arms shipments in a dispute over grain shipments. Meanwhile, Zelensky’s efforts to win the support of major countries in the developing world at the UN General Assembly last week yielded few tangible results.
McCarthy, who has called for accountability for money that actually went to Ukraine, told reporters last week that he declined Zelensky’s request to address Congress again because lawmakers did not have time in a “busy week.”
Hardliners in McCarthy’s party said the United States would be better off pumping more money into the US military to better prepare for any direct combat against China or Russia.
McCarthy’s decision to challenge hardline conservatives on a short-term spending bill could free him from the clutches of the far right.
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