WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukrainian congressional supporters say they won’t give up after a bill to keep the federal government open excluded President Joe Biden’s request to provide more security aid to the war-torn country.
Still, many lawmakers admit that winning approval for Ukraine aid in Congress is getting harder as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues. Republican opposition to aid has gained momentum in the halls of Congress.
The vote in the House last week showed potential trouble ahead. Nearly half of House Republicans voted to strip $300 million from the defense spending bill to train Ukrainian soldiers and buy weapons. The money was later approved separately, but Ukrainian supporters celebrated their growing numbers.
Then, on Saturday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., excluded additional aid to Ukraine from a move to keep the government running until Nov. 17. In doing so, he closed the door on a Senate package that would have funneled $6 billion to Ukraine, about a third of what the White House had requested. Both the House and Senate overwhelmingly approved the stopgap measure, with members of both parties abandoning increased aid for Ukraine in order to avoid a costly government shutdown.
The latest action in Congress marks a gradual shift in the unwavering support that the United States has so far pledged to Ukraine in its fight against Russia, and it is one of the clearest examples of the Republican Party’s move toward a more isolationist stance. Ukraine’s funding exception comes a little more than a week after lawmakers met at the Capitol with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who sought to reassure lawmakers that his military was winning the war, but stressed that additional aid would be essential to continue the fight.
President Biden shares words with Zelensky at the White House on September 21.AP
After the visit, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said that one sentence summed up Zelenskyy’s message in his meeting with the Senate: “‘If we don’t get help, we’re going to lose the war,'” Schumer said. .
Still, McCarthy, pressured by his right wing, has gone from saying “no blank check” for Ukraine, with the focus being on accountability, to describing the Senate’s approach as putting “Ukraine before America.” He declined to say after the vote on government funding whether he would bring aid for Ukraine to a House vote in the coming weeks.
“If there’s ever a time we have to have a discussion about that, we’ll have a full discussion about that, but I think the administration has to make the case for what a win is,” McCarthy said.
Biden said in a statement after Congress blocked the shutdown that “we cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be disrupted.” He called on McCarthy to “maintain his commitment to the Ukrainian people” and continue “the necessary support to help Ukraine at this critical moment.”
Zelensky said American aid was essential to his country’s chances of winning the war.AP
In the Senate, both Schumer and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky pledged to move quickly to try and pass the White House’s full request. But it’s clear that goal will become increasingly difficult as more rank-and-file GOP senators have questioned the aid or demanded that it be attached to immigration policies that would help secure the southern border — echoing similar demands in the House.
Florida Senator Rick Scott, a Republican who voted for the spending bill after Ukraine aid was stripped, said that Congress needs to have “a conversation with the American public.” He said he was optimistic after seeing the money removed from the bill.
“In my state, people want to help Ukraine, but they also want to help Americans,” Scott said. “So they want to really understand how this money has been spent.”
Democrats said they were disappointed by Ukraine’s lack of funding, but expressed determination that they would get aid to the war-torn country.
“We will not stop fighting for more economic and security aid for Ukraine,” Schumer said after the bill passed. “Majorities in both parties support helping Ukraine, and doing more is essential for American security and for democracies around the world.”
Ahead of Saturday’s vote, Pentagon officials expressed concern over the prospect of no additional funding for Ukraine. In a letter to congressional leaders dated Friday, Michael McCord, under secretary of defense, wrote that the department has exhausted nearly all available security assistance.
Zelensky meets with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, left, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.AP
“Without additional funding now, we will have to delay or block aid to meet Ukraine’s urgent needs, including for critical and urgent air defense and ammunition now as Russia prepares to launch a winter offensive and resume bombing of Ukrainian cities,” McCord said.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said after the vote that US aid was essential as the Ukrainian people “struggle to defend their own country from tyrannical forces.” America must keep its word.”
Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he wanted to send a clear message to the world about US support for Ukraine by passing the legislation, but believed the Pentagon had “enough spending money” to survive. until December. He said he believed McCarthy still supported funding for Ukraine.
“I think speakers always have a good position in Ukraine. I think he’s dealing with a fractured caucus that he has to deal with and none of them can be ignored when you’ve got a four-seat, 15-peat majority in the conference,” Rogers said, referring to the far-right lawmaker. who has adamantly opposed funding for Ukraine.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, DN.Y., the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he heard McCarthy tell Zelenskyy during his visit that “we’re going to give them what they need.”
“Unfortunately, the message sent by the speaker and the former president is that they cannot be trusted,” Meeks said, adding a reference to former President Donald Trump, who has asked Congress to withhold additional funding for Ukraine until the FBI, IRS and Department of Justice “hand over every residual evidence” regarding the Biden family’s business dealings.
The US has approved four rounds of aid to Ukraine in response to the Russian invasion, totaling about $113 billion, with some of the money going to replenish US military equipment sent to the front lines. In August, Biden called on Congress to provide an additional $24 billion.
Action on Saturday by the House to act first on government funding left the Senate with a stark choice: either follow a bill that failed to help Ukraine, or allow what would likely be an extended government shutdown to occur.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., expressed disappointment in the decision.
“Every day that goes by that we don’t get extra money is a day Russia gets closer to being able to win this war,” Murphy said.
Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Ukraine should not be blocked, and that the aid could be approved in other ways.
“Neither our friends nor our enemies should see this as a change in the United States’ commitment to Ukraine,” Risch said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
