Funding for Ukraine has become a top priority for the Biden administration. It appears as though domestic issues like inflation and soaring gas prices aren’t a concern for the White House.
The Associated Press reported that President Joe Biden will ask Congress to approve another $13 billion in security funding for Ukraine. At the same time, the president will request $12 billion to refill federal disaster relief funds. And people wonder why the U.S. is in debt.
If Congress approves Biden’s request, the U.S. would have provided the country with over $123 billion to date. The request comes as support dwindles to fund Ukraine in large quantities.
A CNN poll recently released revealed that 55% of Americans do not want to provide Ukraine with further aid, while 45% said Congress should approve more funding. The poll also showed that 51% of respondents said the U.S. has done enough to support Ukraine, while 48% said the country should do more. Upon learning of the CNN poll, the White House downplayed it, saying that support for further funding has remained “solid” among the American people.
“We have we have seen throughout this war solid support from the American people, solid support from the Congress in a bipartisan and bicameral way for continuing to support Ukraine and we’re going to stay focused on that,” National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told CNN on a call with reporters on Wednesday.
“It’s not just important to the people of Ukraine, but it’s important to our European allies and partners, particularly our NATO allies, given that this fighting is on the — on the doorstep of many of those NATO allies,” Kirby added. “If some Americans don’t feel that or since that … I think it’s important to remember that if we just sit back and we let Putin win, we let him take Ukraine, where does it stop next?”
Despite Biden’s request, it seems unlikely that the GOP-led House will approve further funding for Ukraine. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has promised that his narrow majority would not consider bringing a funding bill for Ukraine to the floor. In June, McCarthy said he would not take up any Senate-led legislation that would boost military aid to Ukraine.
“I’m not going to prejudge what some of them [in the Senate] do, but if they think they’re writing a supplemental because they want to go around an agreement we just made, it’s not going anywhere,” McCarthy told Punchbowl News in June.
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