Biden Seeks Another $24 Billion for Ukraine in Test of Bipartisan Support

President Biden requested Congress on Thursday for one more $24 billion to assist Ukraine and different international locations affected by Russia’s invasion, the primary time lawmakers have been requested to extend financing for the battle effort since Republicans took over the House in January.

The request will check whether or not the expansive American effort to bolster Ukraine retains the bipartisan assist it has loved in Washington since Russian forces crossed the border practically 18 months in the past. Leading Republicans, together with former President Donald J. Trump, have grown more and more vocal in expressing skepticism or opposition to extra assist 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 mentioned in June that any supplemental appropriation request for Ukraine was “not going anywhere” and that extra assist must be labored out within the common congressional spending course of. Seventy House Republicans voted final month to chop off Ukraine altogether and whereas that means a bipartisan majority stays, it was unclear if Mr. McCarthy would defy such a big phase of his convention.

The president’s request consists of $13.1 billion for navy assist to Ukraine and replenishment of Pentagon weapons shares used for the battle effort. Another $8.5 billion would go for financial, humanitarian and different help to Ukraine and different international locations affected by the battle, and $2.3 billion to leverage extra assist from different donors via the World Bank.

The supplemental appropriation request additionally consists of $12 billion for catastrophe reduction, $4 billion for border safety and $60 million for wildland firefighter pay. The mixed $40 billion complete of the request will problem the spending limits that Mr. Biden negotiated with Mr. McCarthy in May.

Dan Caldwell, the vp of the Center for Renewing America, a right-wing suppose tank influential amongst House Republicans and Freedom Caucus members, mentioned his group would work to attempt 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 mentioned. “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.”