Joe Biden called the prospect of the US refusing to help Ukraine an "absolute mistake" and "madness". He says it is against the countryʼs interests, and has promised that his administration will get the funds released.
The New York Times writes about it.
Back in September, the White House asked Congress to approve a $106 billion funding package, of which over $61 billion is allocated to Ukraine, and the rest to help Israel, Taiwan, and protect the border with Mexico. The issue of border protection has become a key point of disagreement between Democrats and Republicans in Congress. It is this that slows down the approval of the request of the White House.
Republicans demand tougher requirements for migrants and stronger border protection. Negotiations with the Democrats failed because the Republicans do not want to make concessions. Democrats, on the other hand, are in favor of a comprehensive revision of the migration system.
Republicans in Congress are not yet ready to support aid to Ukraine if their demands are not taken into account. Despite this resistance, the aid can be approved in the Senate, where the Democrats have a majority, but the project will most likely not pass in the House of Representatives, where the Republican Party has a majority.
Under pressure from the House of Representatives, Republicans twice refused to include military aid to Ukraine in temporary spending bills to keep the government funded this fall. This caused concern among Ukrainian officials. Andriy Yermak, the head of the Presidentʼs Office, said about significant risks, in particular. Postponing American aid to Kyiv risks losing the war with Russia. He called on the US Congress to vote on the aid package for Ukraine as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Russian President Putin is most likely investing in a protracted war. Next year, the country will allocate a third of budget funds to "national defense", which is $109 billion.
- As the Reuters agency wrote, the United States attracted large investments in the economy thanks to military aid to Ukraine. So Washington released data on which states benefited the most financially from military aid to Ukraine in order to bolster support from Republicans who opposed the continuation of military aid.