New aid bill for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan faces uphill battle

The Senate on Sunday released a revised foreign aid bill offering military support for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan after a bipartisan group of negotiators agreed to new immigration restrictions in the legislation.

But it’s unclear whether the roughly $118 billion legislation can pass Congress with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., immediately declaring it “dead on arrival” in the House and vowing to move forward with a separate Israel aid bill that would leave Ukraine without additional U.S. assistance.

“As Ukraine runs low on ammunition to fend off [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s brutal invasion, it is imperative we finally extend our support,” Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray said in a statement. “Ukraine’s fate and so much more hangs in the balance — it’s time for Congress to act.”

Senate Republicans in December stalled votes on an earlier aid package , leading to two months of negotiations on unrelated immigration policy changes. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said he will tee up a procedural vote on the new aid package as soon as Wednesday, but it’s unclear whether it will even have the 60 votes needed to pass the upper chamber.

The bill includes $60 billion in security and economic aid for Ukraine, $48.4 billion of which is for military support. That includes $13.7 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and $19.9 billion for the Pentagon to backfill weapons sent to Ukraine through U.S. stockpiles. There’s also $1.6 billion in Foreign Military Financing, allowing Ukraine and European countries impacted by Russia’s invasion to use the money to buy weapons from U.S. defense contractors.

The Biden administration in December used its last tranche of Ukraine aid funds from previous assistance packages.

A growing number of Republicans have become increasingly opposed to Ukraine aid, and many, including Johnson, claim the new bill’s immigration agreement “won’t come close to ending the border catastrophe.” The new aid bill is likely to lose Democratic support as well, with Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., accusing it of “dismantling our asylum system” and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., opposed to additional Israel aid.

“If we continue to fund [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s indiscriminate war, how can we, with a straight face, criticize Putin’s targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine as a war crime?” Sanders wrote in a statement.

The bill includes $10.6 billion for the Defense Department to continue providing munitions and other weapons to Israel after a four-month bombardment of Gaza that has displaced roughly 85% of the population and killed thousands of civilians. That amount includes $4 billion for the Iron Dome and David’s Sling air defense systems and $1.2 billion to procure the Iron Beam laser system to counter short-range rocket threats.

There’s also another $3.5 billion in Foreign Military Financing for Israel and another $2 billion in the same account for Indo-Pacific security partners, including Taiwan.

Unlike the December bill, the new legislation adds another $1.9 billion specifically to backfill weapons sent to Taiwan from U.S. stockpiles, providing the Pentagon’s long-requested appropriation that will allow it to use presidential drawdown authority to quickly transfer weapons to Taipei.

The new bill adds another $2.4 billion for U.S. Central Command to continue countering a deluge of attacks from Iran-backed proxies amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The use of expensive missile systems like Tomahawks to counter Houthi attacks on commercial ships with less expensive drones and missiles has placed additional demands on U.S. munitions stockpiles.

Additionally, the bill adds $542 million for Indo-Pacific Command’s FY24 unfunded priorities list. It also retains $2.1 billion in funding for the submarine-industrial base aimed at helping the Navy meet its submarine production goals while preparing to transfer as many as five Virginia-class submarines to Australia in the 2030s as part of the AUKUS agreement.

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.

周日，参议院公布了一项修订后的对外援助法案，向乌克兰、以色列和台湾提供军事支持。此前，一个由两党代表组成的谈判小组同意在该法案中加入新的移民限制措施。

但这项约 1180 亿美元的法案能否在国会获得通过尚不明朗，众议院议长、路易斯安那州共和党人迈克·约翰逊立即宣布该法案“胎死腹中”，并誓言要推进一项单独的以色列援助法案，该法案将使乌克兰失去额外的美国援助。

“乌克兰的弹药即将耗尽，难以抵御普京的残酷入侵，我们必须立即伸出援手，”参议院拨款委员会主席帕蒂·默里在一份声明中表示。“乌克兰的命运以及更多方面都岌岌可危——国会是时候采取行动了。”

去年12月，参议院共和党人阻挠了此前一项援助方案的投票，导致双方就一项无关的移民政策修改进行了长达两个月的谈判。参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默（纽约州）表示，他最早将于周三就新的援助方案进行程序性投票，但目前尚不清楚该方案能否获得参议院通过所需的60票。

该法案包括向乌克兰提供600亿美元的安全和经济援助，其中484亿美元用于军事支持。这包括137亿美元用于“乌克兰安全援助倡议”，以及199亿美元用于五角大楼补充通过美国库存运往乌克兰的武器。此外，还有16亿美元的对外军事融资，允许乌克兰和受俄罗斯入侵影响的欧洲国家利用这笔资金从美国国防承包商处购买武器。

拜登政府在去年12月用完了之前援助计划中拨给乌克兰的最后一笔援助资金。

越来越多的共和党人开始反对向乌克兰提供援助，包括约翰逊在内的许多人声称，新法案中的移民协议“根本无法结束边境危机”。这项新的援助法案也可能失去民主党的支持，加州民主党参议员亚历克斯·帕迪利亚指责该法案“破坏了我们的庇护制度”，而佛蒙特州独立参议员伯尼·桑德斯则反对向以色列提供更多援助。

桑德斯在一份声明中写道：“如果我们继续资助内塔尼亚胡总理的无差别战争，我们怎能面不改色地批评普京在乌克兰以平民和民用基础设施为目标的战争罪行呢？”

该法案包括拨款106亿美元给国防部，用于在加沙地带遭受长达四个月的轰炸后，继续向以色列提供弹药和其他武器。这场轰炸已导致约85%的加沙人口流离失所，数千名平民丧生。这笔款项包括40亿美元用于“铁穹”和“大卫投石器”防空系统，以及12亿美元用于采购“铁束”激光防御系统，以应对短程火箭弹威胁。

此外，以色列还有 35 亿美元的对外军事融资，而同一账户中还有 20 亿美元用于包括台湾在内的印太安全伙伴。

与 12 月份的法案不同，新法案专门增加了 19 亿美元，用于从美国库存中补充向台湾输送的武器，为五角大楼提供了长期以来一直要求的拨款，使其能够利用总统的撤军权力迅速向台北转移武器。

新法案为美国中央司令部追加了24亿美元拨款，用于继续应对在加沙地带以色列与哈马斯冲突期间，伊朗支持的代理人发动的猛烈袭击。为了应对胡塞武装使用成本较低的无人机和导弹袭击商船，美国动用了诸如“战斧”巡航导弹等昂贵的导弹系统，这给美国的弹药储备带来了额外的压力。

此外，该法案还为印太司令部2024财年未拨款优先事项清单增加了5.42亿美元。同时，它还保留了21亿美元的潜艇工业基地资金，旨在帮助海军实现其潜艇生产目标，并根据奥库斯协议，为在2030年代向澳大利亚移交多达5艘弗吉尼亚级潜艇做好准备。

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。