US Congress debates Ukraine aid as Pentagon warns money running low
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[October 03, 2023]
By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A last-ditch weekend spending agreement avoided a
U.S. government shutdown but left pro-Ukraine officials in Washington
scrambling on Monday to determine the best path forward for securing
approval for billions more assistance for Kyiv.
Leaders in the Senate, which is narrowly controlled by President Joe
Biden's fellow Democrats, promised to take up legislation in the coming
weeks to ensure continued U.S. security and economic support for
Ukraine.
But in the Republican-led House of Representatives, Speaker Kevin
McCarthy said he wanted more information from the Biden administration,
and a Republican pushing for his removal as speaker accused McCarthy of
cutting "a secret deal" with Biden to allow the House to vote on a bill.
Washington has sent the Kyiv government $113 billion in security,
economic and humanitarian aid since Russia invaded in February 2022.
President Joe Biden asked Congress in July to approve another $24
billion related to Ukraine, which Ukraine supporters - Republicans as
well as Democrats - had hoped could become law as part of a spending
bill.
A U.S. official said that, as of Monday, the Defense Department had $1.6
billion left to replace weapons sent to Ukraine, no funds left under the
Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) and $5.4 billion worth of
Presidential Drawdown Authority.
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Congress passed a stopgap funding bill late on Saturday after McCarthy
backed down from a demand by his party's hardliners for steep cuts in
domestic aid programs. But he, and some other Republicans in both the
House and Senate, refused to include more aid for Ukraine in the
measure.
REPUBLICAN ANTI-UKRAINE DRUMBEAT CONTINUES
Opponents of Ukraine aid, many of whom are close allies of former
Republican President Donald Trump as he seeks re-election to the White
House next year, kept up their drumbeat against assistance for Kyiv on
Monday.
Republican Representative Matt Gaetz, who said he would try this week to
remove McCarthy as speaker, accused McCarthy on Monday of reaching a
"secret deal" with Biden for Ukraine aide, amid reports that McCarthy
had agreed to allow a House vote on assistance for Kyiv after the
spending bill passed.
McCarthy later denied it. He called on the administration to arrange a
briefing for House members about the path it sees to reach an end to the
conflict.
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A framed flag signed by front-line Ukrainian fighters in Bakhmut and
presented to the U.S. Congress in 2022, sits at one end of the table
where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will meet privately
with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and other
congressional leaders on a visit to the U.S. Capitol in Washington,
September 21, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
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"Our members have a lot of questions, especially on the
accountability provisions of what we want to see with the money that
gets sent," he told reporters.
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre urged Congress to move
quickly. "They don't have to wait 45 days to get this done," she
told a daily press briefing, where she also expressed confidence the
assistance would continue.
"If (Russian President Vladimir) Putin thinks he can outlast us,
he's wrong. We'll have another package of aid soon to signal our
support for the brave people of Ukraine," Jean-Pierre said.
Department of Defense Comptroller Michael McCord sent a letter to
McCarthy saying the Pentagon has already had to slow down resupplies
for some troops.
"Today, DoD has exhausted nearly all available security assistance
funding for Ukraine," McCord wrote in the letter, dated Sept. 29 and
expressing concern that the stopgap spending bill did not include
security assistance for Ukraine.
And in an effort to show the impact on U.S. congressional districts,
McCord’s letter called out how U.S. funds increase jobs and
production in Tucson, Arizona, where RTX Corp has facilities and
Lockheed Martin’s Camden, Arkansas, facilities where GMLRS missiles
and Patriot interceptors are made.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv was in talks with
Republicans and Democrats in Congress, and that the drama around the
stopgap bill was an "incident" rather than something systemic.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Additional reporting by Mike Stone,
Moira Warburton, Makini Brice and Steve Holland; Editing by Don
Durfee and Alison Williams)
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