WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are scheduled to present their case on Tuesday, advocating for the immediate provision of aid to both Israel and Ukraine.
They will be testifying at a Senate hearing, aiming to support the administration’s $105 billion emergency aid request for conflicts in these countries and others. However, this request has encountered challenges in Congress.
In the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority and many Republicans are in favour of linking aid for Israel and Ukraine, the proposal is more likely to find support. Nevertheless, it faces significant hurdles in the Republican-led House. Speaker Mike Johnson has proposed focusing on aid for Israel and excluding Ukraine while cutting funding for the Internal Revenue Service to cover the costs.
This narrower House proposal, exceeding $14 billion, has met resistance from Senate Democrats, which in turn puts pressure on Senate Republicans who support aid for Ukraine but are aware of growing concerns within their party about it. These differing approaches signal potential obstacles to the aid, and they come at a time when both Israel and Ukraine are involved in long-standing conflicts that are considered of great global significance by President Biden and many U.S. lawmakers.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has emphasized the challenges facing democracy and freedom worldwide and cautioned against isolationism, particularly as Russia’s President Putin seeks to reassert Russia’s global influence and Hamas continues to pose a threat to Israel.
Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray and the panel’s top Republican, Susan Collins, are working on a bill that aligns with Biden’s request, providing aid for both Israel and Ukraine. The White House request also includes funding for Taiwan, addressing threats from China, and allocating additional resources to manage the influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Despite growing questions within the Republican conference regarding aid to Ukraine, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell strongly supports combining aid for Ukraine and Israel. He recently hosted Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, emphasizing the need for swift and decisive action in this critical moment. Markarova likewise underscored the urgency of aiding Ukraine’s war efforts to prevent further emboldening of Putin and to safeguard global stability.
