United States President Joe Biden has submitted a request for about $40bn in additional spending, with over half slated to go towards support for Ukraine.
The proposal represents the first additional aid request made by the Biden administration to Congress since Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in January.
In response to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration is seeking $24bn in additional assistance for the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other countries facing knock-on effects from the violence.
While aid to Ukraine enjoys strong bipartisan support, a group of Republicans on the far right have grown increasingly resistant to providing more funding. Their leverage in the House, where Republicans hold a narrow majority, could prove a stumbling block.
In June, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told Punchbowl News that any additional Ukraine assistance requests were “not going anywhere”. Such aid would need to be allocated from the Pentagon’s discretionary spending during the annual congressional appropriations process, he said.
In a letter on Thursday, White House budget director Shalanda Young urged McCarthy to swiftly follow through on the US’s “commitment to the Ukrainian peoples’ defence of their homeland and to democracy around the world”, as well as other needs.
