Biden asks for defense package: Israel, Ukraine, AUKUS and the Pacific

WASHINGTON ― The White House has asked Congress to pass a $105 billion supplemental spending package with most of the money allocated for a diffuse array of the Biden administration’s defense priorities, ranging from Ukraine to Israel to the Indo-Pacific region.

Much of the money, announced Friday, is allocated to the defense-industrial base as the administration continues to send weapons to Ukraine and Israel from U.S. stockpiles before backfilling that equipment.

The package also includes funds to bolster the submarine-industrial base to get the U.S. Navy on track to meet its production goals for the nuclear-powered submarines it needs to procure for AUKUS, the trilateral submarine-sharing agreement with Australia and Britain.

“This supplemental request invests over $50 billion in the American defense industrial base ― ensuring our military continues to be the most ready, capable, and best equipped fighting force the world has ever seen,” Shalanda Young, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget director, wrote in a letter to Congress. “The funding will expand production lines, strengthening the American economy and creating new American jobs.”

President Joe Biden made his case for the package to the U.S. public during a prime-time address from the White House on Thursday night, shortly after returning from a trip to Israel. The White House is continuing to make the case for the funding request by comparing Hamas’ attacks on Israel this month to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We cannot and will not let terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin win. I refuse to let that happen,” Biden said.

Ukrainian soldiers prepare a U.S.-supplied M777 howitzer to fire at Russian positions in the Kherson region if Ukraine on Jan. 9, 2023. (Libkos/AP)

More than half of the money in the proposed package would go to Ukraine, and the bulk of that includes $44.4 billion to continue arming the nation. Of that, $30 billion would be designated to replenish U.S. stockpiles of weapons already sent Ukraine.

The Biden administration hopes these funds will last through the U.S. elections next year. Numerous Republican presidential candidates, including the front-runner, former President Donald Trump, oppose additional aid to Ukraine .

The Biden administration has less than $5.5 billion to continue transferring weapons to Ukraine and cannot backfill U.S. equipment already sent Kyiv without a new package.

House Republicans removed $6 billion in Ukraine aid when Congress passed a stopgap funding bill needed to avoid a government shutdown earlier this month.

The Senate intends to move forward with the Biden administration’s request in one package, but several House Republicans have demanded separate votes on Ukraine and Israel aid. However, House Republicans have failed multiple times this week to elect a new speaker, grinding business in the lower chamber to a halt for more than two weeks. The House cannot pass anything without a new speaker.

Journalists observe Palestinians inspecting the rubble of a building after it was struck by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Oct. 8, 2023. (Fatima Shbair/AP)

The request also includes $14.3 billion in more military aid for Israel. That includes $10.6 billion for air and missile defense support as well as replenishment funds to backfill U.S. stocks of weapons the Biden administration has already sent Israel.

Hamas’ initial attack on Israel killed about 1,400 people, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Israel retaliated by bombarding the Gaza Strip in a campaign that has killed approximately 3,785 Palestinians, according to the local Health Ministry.

Iran has also threatened to retaliate if Israel proceeds with a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip . U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria came under attack Wednesday, and U.S. officials said the Navy shot down a missile fired by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels off the coast of Yemen that same day.

The Biden administration has already sent Israel about 1,800 Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, small diameter bombs, 155mm artillery rounds and ammunition from U.S. stockpiles, according to the Pentagon. It also continues to send Iron Dome interceptors to strike down Hamas rocket attacks. The Israeli Defense Ministry announced Thursday it also received armored vehicles from the U.S. as it prepares for a possible ground invasion of Gaza.

The munitions for Israel have raised concerns about civilian casualties in the densely populated Gaza Strip, with humanitarian groups like Doctors Without Borders noting strikes on health facilities and ambulances as well as first responder deaths.

“The president has been clear from the earliest days following the heinous terrorist attacks and assault by Hamas that the United States and Israel, as fellow democracies, have a commitment to the rule of law and the law of war,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told Defense News. “All of our arms transfers, including arms transfers to Israel, are rooted in the basic proposition that they will be used consistent with the law of armed conflict. There is no exception here.”

Additionally, the package includes $3.7 billion for Israel through the Foreign Military Financing program and in the form of embassy support. That U.S. State Department program provides grants and loans to allies and partners to buy U.S. weapons.

Israel receives an annual $3.8 billion in U.S. military aid, including $3.3 billion through Foreign Military Financing and $500 million in missile defense.

(Ktsimage/Getty Images)

The package also asks Congress for $2 billion in Foreign Military Financing funds for allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region.

Congress last year authorized up to $2 billion per year in Foreign Military Financing grants for Taiwan with the aim of deterring a potential Chinese attack, but appropriators did not fund that amount. Sullivan said the Biden administration intends to use the $2 billion request for partners across the region, not just Taiwan.

Additionally, the package asks Congress for $3.4 billion to bolster the submarine-industrial base with an eye toward AUKUS implementation. The U.S. Navy is already behind on its goal of producing two Virginia-class attack submarines per year and will have to slightly increase that goal to transfer at least three and as many as five of those vessels to Australia in the 2030s.

Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has held up two key AUKUS authorizations , demanding the Biden administration and Congress invest more funds in the submarine-industrial base.

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——白宫已要求国会通过一项 1050 亿美元的补充支出方案，其中大部分资金将用于拜登政府一系列分散的国防优先事项，涵盖从乌克兰到以色列再到印太地区等诸多方面。

周五宣布的大部分资金将分配给国防工业基地，因为美国政府将继续从美国库存中向乌克兰和以色列运送武器，然后再补充这些装备。

该方案还包括用于加强潜艇工业基础的资金，以使美国海军能够按计划实现其核动力潜艇的生产目标，这些潜艇是为与澳大利亚和英国达成的三边潜艇共享协议 AUKUS 采购的。

白宫管理和预算办公室主任沙兰达·杨在致国会的一封信中写道：“这项补充拨款请求将向美国国防工业基地投资超过500亿美元，确保我们的军队继续保持世界历史上最随时待命、能力最强、装备最精良的战斗力量。这笔资金将扩大生产线，增强美国经济实力，并创造新的美国就业机会。”

周四晚间，拜登总统结束对以色列的访问后不久，在白宫发表黄金时段讲话，向美国公众阐述了这项援助计划的理由。白宫继续强调这项拨款请求的合理性，并将哈马斯本月对以色列的袭击与俄罗斯总统普京入侵乌克兰相提并论。

拜登说：“我们不能也不会让哈马斯这样的恐怖分子和普京这样的暴君得逞。我绝不允许这种情况发生。”

2023年1月9日，乌克兰士兵在乌克兰赫尔松地区准备用一门美国提供的M777榴弹炮向俄军阵地开火。（Libkos/AP）

拟议方案中超过一半的资金将流向乌克兰，其中大部分（444亿美元）将用于继续武装该国。在这444亿美元中，300亿美元将用于补充美国已向乌克兰提供的武器库存。

拜登政府希望这些资金能够持续到明年美国大选。包括领跑者、前总统唐纳德·特朗普在内的众多共和党总统候选人反对向乌克兰提供更多援助。

拜登政府用于继续向乌克兰输送武器的资金不足55亿美元，如果没有新的援助计划，就无法补充美国已经向基辅运送的装备。

本月初，国会通过了一项临时拨款法案，以避免政府停摆，但众议院共和党人却取消了对乌克兰的 60 亿美元援助。

参议院打算将拜登政府的请求以一揽子方案的形式推进，但几位众议院共和党人要求就对乌克兰和以色列的援助分别进行投票。然而，本周众议院共和党人多次未能选出新议长，导致众议院议事工作停滞两周多。没有新议长，众议院无法通过任何法案。

2023年10月8日，在加沙城，记者们观察巴勒斯坦人在以色列空袭后查看一栋建筑物的废墟。（法蒂玛·沙拜尔/美联社）

该请求还包括向以色列追加143亿美元的军事援助。其中包括106亿美元用于防空和导弹防御支持，以及补充美国此前已向以色列提供的武器库存的资金。

据以色列国防军称，哈马斯对以色列的首次袭击造成约1400人死亡。以色列随后对加沙地带发动轰炸进行报复，据当地卫生部称，这场轰炸已造成约3785名巴勒斯坦人死亡。

伊朗还威胁称，如果以色列继续在加沙地带发动地面进攻，伊朗将进行报复。周三，驻伊拉克和叙利亚的美军遭到袭击。美国​​官员表示，当天海军在也门沿海击落了一枚由伊朗支持的胡塞武装发射的导弹。

据五角大楼消息，拜登政府已向以色列运送了约1800套联合直接攻击弹药（JDA弹药）、小直径炸弹、155毫米炮弹以及来自美国库存的其他弹药。此外，美国还继续向以色列提供“铁穹”拦截系统，用于拦截哈马斯的火箭弹袭击。以色列国防部周四宣布，为应对可能对加沙地带发动的地面入侵，以色列还从美国接收了装甲车辆。

运往以色列的弹药引发了人们对人口稠密的加沙地带平民伤亡的担忧，无国界医生等人道主义组织注意到医疗设施和救护车遭到袭击，以及急救人员死亡。

国家安全顾问杰克·沙利文告诉《防务新闻》：“自哈马斯发动骇人听闻的恐怖袭击和攻势以来，总统就一直明确表示，美国和以色列作为民主国家，都致力于维护法治和战争法。我们所有的武器转让，包括对以色列的武器转让，都基于一个基本原则，即这些武器的使用必须符合武装冲突法。这一点没有任何例外。”

此外，该方案还包括通过“对外军事融资计划”和以大使馆支持的形式向以色列提供37亿美元。美国国务院的这项计划向盟友和伙伴提供赠款和贷款，用于购买美国武器。

以色列每年获得美国 38 亿美元的军事援助，其中包括通过对外军事融资提供的 33 亿美元和 5 亿美元的导弹防御援助。

（Ktsimage/Getty Images）

该方案还要求国会拨款 20 亿美元用于支持印太地区的盟友和伙伴的对外军事融资。

去年，国会授权每年向台湾提供高达20亿美元的对外军事援助拨款，旨在遏制中国可能发动的攻击，但拨款委员会并未批准这笔款项。苏利文表示，拜登政府计划将这20亿美元的拨款用于该地区的合作伙伴，而不仅仅是台湾。

此外，该方案还要求国会拨款34亿美元，用于加强潜艇工业基础，以期推进AUKUS项目的实施。美国海军目前已未能实现每年建造两艘弗吉尼亚级攻击型潜艇的目标，为了在2030年代向澳大利亚交付至少三艘、至多五艘该级潜艇，美国海军不得不略微提高这一目标。

参议院军事委员会首席共和党议员、来自密西西比州的参议员罗杰·威克尔(Roger Wicker)阻挠了两项关键的AUKUS授权，要求拜登政府和国会向潜艇工业基地投入更多资金。

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。