The aid request is the first by the president since Republicans took over the House in January, and some party leaders have expressed opposition to spending more to help Ukraine beat back Russian forces.
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Ukrainian soldiers training in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region in July.
President Biden asked Congress on Thursday for another $24 billion to help Ukraine and other countries affected by Russia’s invasion, the first time lawmakers have been asked to increase financing for the war effort since Republicans took over the House in January.
The request will test whether the expansive American effort to bolster Ukraine retains the bipartisan support it has enjoyed in Washington since Russian forces crossed the border nearly 18 months ago. Leading Republicans, including former President Donald J. Trump, have grown increasingly vocal in expressing skepticism or opposition to more aid for Ukraine.
“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 Ukraine altogether and while that suggests a bipartisan majority remains, it was unclear if Mr. McCarthy would defy such a large segment of his conference.
The president’s request includes $13.1 billion for military aid to Ukraine and replenishment of Pentagon weapons stocks used for the war effort. Another $8.5 billion would go for economic, humanitarian and other assistance to Ukraine and other countries affected by the war, and $2.3 billion to leverage more aid from other donors through the World Bank.
The supplemental appropriation request also includes $12 billion for disaster relief, $4 billion for border security and $60 million for wildland firefighter pay. The combined $40 billion total of the request will challenge the spending limits that Mr. Biden negotiated with Mr. McCarthy in May.
Dan Caldwell, the vice president of the Center for Renewing America, a right-wing think tank influential among House Republicans and Freedom Caucus members, said his organization would work to try to kill Mr. Biden’s request.
“Congress should not spend billions more in support of continuing a war in which there are no vital American interests at stake and where there remains a real risk of nuclear escalation,” Mr. Caldwell said. “Speaker McCarthy made clear after the passage of the debt limit deal that he would not support supplemental spending packages like the one the Biden administration is requesting. Both he and the rest of the House G.O.P. need to keep their promise by not moving this aid package forward.”
Peter Baker is the chief White House correspondent and has covered the last five presidents for The Times and The Washington Post. He is the author of seven books, most recently “The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021,” with Susan Glasser. More about Peter Baker
Luke Broadwater covers Congress. He was the lead reporter on a series of investigative articles at The Baltimore Sun that won a Pulitzer Prize and a George Polk Award in 2020. More about Luke Broadwater
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Source: nytimes.com
