White House requests $38 billion more in Ukraine aid

WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday asked Congress for another $38 billion in Ukraine aid. If lawmakers fund the supplemental request, it would bring the total amount Congress has appropriated for Ukraine to more than $100 billion in less than a year.

The Office of Management and Budget asked Congress to include the $38 billion Ukraine supplemental funding request – which includes $21.7 billion in security assistance – in the government funding bill for fiscal 2023, while seeking additional funds for COVID-19 relief and disaster assistance.

“We are urging the Congress to provide additional appropriations to ensure Ukraine has the funding, weapons and support it needs to defend itself and that vulnerable people continue to receive lifesaving aid,” Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

The $21.7 billion in Pentagon funding is “for equipment for Ukraine, replenishment of Department of Defense stocks and for continued military, intelligence and other defense support,” according to a summary table accompanying the supplemental request.

The request includes another $14.5 billion in funding for the State Department and USAID for direct financial support to the Ukrainian government, humanitarian assistance and strengthening global food security. A $900 million request for the Department of Health and Human Services would “provide standard assistance health care and support services to Ukrainian parolees.”

The request also contains a $626 million Energy Department request, in part for “nuclear security support.” Congress has previously granted funding to the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration to help Ukraine prepare for a potential incident from ongoing Russian shelling at the besieged Zaporizhzhia power plant .

In addition to the total $38 billion Ukraine aid request, the White House is also asking Congress to authorize $7 billion in presidential drawdown authority for Kyiv – which allows President Joe Biden to transfer weapons from existing U.S. stocks.

The Defense Department announced last week that it would transfer another $400 million worth of U.S. weapons stocks to Ukraine, and it has used drawdown authority more than 20 times since August 2021.

Congress has already passed $65.9 billion in Ukraine assistance through three separate supplemental funding packages since Russia’s invasion in February. If Congress funds the fourth request, it would bring the total amount of Ukraine aid lawmakers have approved to $104 billion in less than a year.

The Office of Management and Budget said that the Biden administration already has committed three-fourths of the $12.35 billion in Ukraine funding that Congress approved in September .

The White House intends for the latest supplemental request to last through the end of FY 23. But the Biden administration burned through the $40 billion Ukraine aid supplemental that Congress passed in May in a matter of months, raising the possibility that it may have to ask for a fifth supplemental in what is likely to be a Republican-controlled House.

Several conservative House members aligned with former president Donald Trump have pushed against previous tranches of Ukraine aid, with 57 House and 11 Senate Republicans voting against the $40 billion Ukraine supplemental earlier this year .

A coalition of 12 conservative groups on Tuesday sent a letter to Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., urging them not to approve the White House’s latest Ukraine aid request. The coalition included the influential Heritage Foundation, the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute and Concerned Veterans for America.

“It would be a colossal mistake for congressional leaders to use this lame-duck session to fast-track yet another massive aid package to Ukraine as the United States faces historic inflation and a $31 trillion national debt,” Concerned Veterans for America deputy director John Byrnes said in a statement, adding that the U.S. “should not continue to write a blank check to Ukraine.”

McCarthy – who is likely to become House speaker in the next Congress – said in October that his party will not write a “blank check” for Ukraine. But McCarthy – who voted for the $40 billion Ukraine supplemental earlier this year – struck a more conciliatory tone a few days before the November midterm elections, clarifying in a CNN interview that “there has to be accountability going forward” and that “resources are going to where it is needed.”

Other key Republicans, particularly in the Senate, have shown more enthusiasm about passing additional Ukraine aid.

“I’m proud of them fighting for freedom and so forth, and I think that we will not turn our back on them,” Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee, told Defense News on Monday. “If they show it’s needed, we ought to do it.”

It also remains to be seen whether Congress will surpass the Biden administration’s $38 billion request with an even higher package. The White House asked for $33 billion in its second supplemental funding request in April, only for lawmakers to plus that number up to $40 billion.

“We are waiting to get some final numbers,” Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., the defense spending panel chairwoman told Defense News on Monday. “But I look forward to supporting the Ukrainian people in their battle for freedom.”

Bryant Harris is the Congress reporter for Defense News. He has covered U.S. foreign policy, national security, international affairs and politics in Washington since 2014. He has also written for Foreign Policy, Al-Monitor, Al Jazeera English and IPS News.

华盛顿——白宫周二向国会请求追加380亿美元的乌克兰援助。如果国会批准这项补充拨款，国会在不到一年的时间内为乌克兰提供的援助总额将超过1000亿美元。

美国管理和预算办公室要求国会把 380 亿美元的乌克兰补充资金请求（其中包括 217 亿美元的安全援助）纳入 2023 财年的政府拨款法案，同时寻求为 COVID-19 救济和灾害援助提供额外资金。

“我们敦促国会提供额外拨款，以确保乌克兰拥有自卫所需的资金、武器和支持，并确保弱势群体继续获得拯救生命的援助，”管理和预算办公室主任沙兰达·杨在致众议院议长南希·佩洛西（加州民主党）的信中写道。

根据补充请求附带的汇总表，五角大楼提供的 217 亿美元资金“用于向乌克兰提供设备、补充国防部库存以及继续提供军事、情报和其他国防支持”。

该请求包括为国务院和美国国际开发署额外拨款145亿美元，用于直接向乌克兰政府提供财政支持、人道主义援助以及加强全球粮食安全。此外，还请求为卫生与公众服务部拨款9亿美元，用于“向乌克兰假释犯提供标准援助医疗保健和支持服务”。

该请求还包括能源部提出的6.26亿美元拨款请求，部分用于“核安全支持”。国会此前已向能源部下属的国家核安全管理局拨款，以帮助乌克兰应对俄罗斯持续炮击被围困的扎波罗热核电站可能引发的事故。

除了向乌克兰提出的 380 亿美元援助请求外，白宫还要求国会授权 70 亿美元的总统撤军授权，用于援助基辅——这将允许乔·拜登总统从现有的美国库存中转移武器。

美国国防部上周宣布将向乌克兰转移价值 4 亿美元的美国武器库存，自 2021 年 8 月以来，美国已动用撤军授权 20 多次。

自俄罗斯2月份入侵乌克兰以来，国会已通过三项独立的补充拨款方案，向乌克兰提供了659亿美元的援助。如果国会批准第四项拨款请求，那么在不到一年的时间里，国会批准的对乌克兰援助总额将达到1040亿美元。

美国管理和预算办公室表示，拜登政府已经承诺拨付国会9月份批准的123.5亿美元乌克兰援助资金中的四分之三。

白宫希望最新的补充拨款请求能够持续到 2023 财年结束。但拜登政府在短短几个月内就用完了国会 5 月份通过的 400 亿美元乌克兰援助补充拨款，这使得它有可能不得不在共和党控制的众议院中申请第五次补充拨款。

一些与前总统唐纳德·特朗普结盟的保守派众议院议员曾反对此前对乌克兰的援助，今年早些时候，57 名众议院共和党人和 11 名参议院共和党人投票反对向乌克兰提供的 400 亿美元补充援助。

周二，由12个保守派团体组成的联盟致信众议院议长佩洛西和众议院少数党领袖、加州共和党众议员凯文·麦卡锡，敦促他们不要批准白宫最新的乌克兰援助请求。该联盟成员包括颇具影响力的传统基金会、与特朗普关系密切的美国优先政策研究所和美国关注退伍军人组织。

“如果国会领导人利用这个跛脚鸭会期，在美国面临历史性通货膨胀和 31 万亿美元国债之际，快速推进另一项对乌克兰的大规模援助计划，那将是一个巨大的错误，”美国关注退伍军人组织副主任约翰·伯恩斯在一份声明中表示，并补充说，美国“不应该继续给乌克兰开空白支票”。

麦卡锡很可能在下届国会中成为众议院议长。他曾在10月份表示，他的政党不会给乌克兰开“空白支票”。但麦卡锡——他曾在今年早些时候投票支持向乌克兰提供400亿美元的补充援助——在11月中期选举前几天，语气有所缓和。他在接受CNN采访时澄清说，“今后必须追究责任”，并且“资源会流向最需要的地方”。

其他一些重要的共和党人，特别是参议院的共和党人，对通过更多援助乌克兰的法案表现出更大的热情。

“我为他们争取自由等事业而感到自豪，我认为我们不会对他们置之不理，”阿拉巴马州参议员、拨款委员会首席共和党议员理查德·谢尔比周一告诉《防务新闻》。“如果他们证明有必要这样做，我们就应该这样做。”

国会是否会提出比拜登政府380亿美元更高的拨款方案，目前仍是未知数。白宫在4月份提交的第二份补充拨款申请中要求330亿美元，但国会最终将金额提高到400亿美元。

“我们正在等待最终数据，”众议院国防开支委员会主席、明尼苏达州民主党众议员贝蒂·麦科勒姆周一告诉《防务新闻》，“但我期待着支持乌克兰人民争取自由的斗争。”

布莱恩特·哈里斯是《防务新闻》的国会记者。自2014年以来，他一直在华盛顿报道美国外交政策、国家安全、国际事务和政治。他还曾为《外交政策》、《Al-Monitor》、《半岛电视台英语频道》和IPS新闻撰稿。