The Biden administration on Friday submitted a $106bn request to Congress for military and humanitarian aid for Israel and Ukraine and humanitarian assistance for Gaza, insisting lawmakers had an obligation to support US allies standing up to tyranny and aggression worldwide,
The Guardian reports.
White House officials spelled out the urgency of the request at a morning press briefing, reinforcing Joe Biden’s assertion in a televised address to the nation on Thursday night from the Oval Office that there were links between the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and the deadly attacks on Israel by Hamas on 7 October.
US president Joe Biden delivers a prime-time address to the nation about his approaches to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, humanitarian assistance in Gaza and continued support for Ukraine in their war with Russia
Biden draws direct link between Putin and Hamas as he urges aid for Israel and Ukraine
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Early approval of the money, however, is highly unlikely amid ongoing paralysis in the House of Representatives. The lower chamber of the US Congress remained without a speaker on Friday morning because of further infighting among the Republican majority – and it cannot conduct business until the crisis is resolved.
Shalanda Young, the Biden administration’s budget director, urged politicians to “act swiftly” on Friday as she and the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, laid out details of the supplemental funding request, which includes $61.4bn for Ukraine, incorporating replenishment of US weapons stocks, $14.3bn for Israel and $9.15bn for unspecified humanitarian assistance in both countries and the blockaded Gaza Strip Palestinian territory.
Most of the remainder of the money would be allocated for “security assistance” in the Indo-Pacific region, and strengthening the US-Mexico border with 1,300 additional border patrol agents and other resources, the administration said.
“Our job is to make clear to Congress what the needs are, and what happens if critical funding is not delivered,” Young said.
“So we’re doing our job here by letting Congress know what the critical needs are, and we expect them to act and act swiftly.”
In his address on Thursday night, Biden painted the US as “a beacon to the world” as he attempted to convince skeptical voters and critical Republicans of the need to pass the budget request.
“History has taught us that when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror, when dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction,” he said.
“They keep going and the costs and the threats to America and the world keep rising.”
Sullivan said attacks on Israel by Hamas, and the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war, came amid “a global inflection point”.
