US Congress debates Ukraine aid as Pentagon warns money running low

A last-ditch weekend spending agreement avoided a US government shutdown but left pro-Ukraine officials in Washington scrambling on Monday to determine the best path forward for securing approval for billions more funds for Kyiv.

Leaders in the Senate, which is narrowly controlled by US President Joe Biden’s fellow Democrats, promised to take up legislation in the coming weeks to ensure continued US security and economic support for Ukraine.

But in the Republican-led House of Representatives, Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he wanted more information from the Biden administration, and a Republican pushing for his removal as speaker accused McCarthy of cutting “a secret deal” with Biden to allow the House to vote on a bill.

Washington has sent the Kyiv government US$113 billion in security, economic and humanitarian aid since Russia invaded in February 2022. Biden asked Congress in July to approve another US$24 billion related to Ukraine, which Ukraine supporters – Republicans as well as Democrats – had hoped could become law as part of a spending bill.

A US official said that, as of Monday, the Defence Department had US$1.6 billion left to replace weapons sent to Ukraine, no funds left under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) and US$5.4 billion worth of Presidential Drawdown Authority.

Congress passed a stopgap funding bill late on Saturday after McCarthy backed down from a demand by his party’s hardliners for steep cuts in domestic aid programmes. But he, and some other Republicans in both the House and Senate, refused to include more aid for Ukraine in the measure.

Opponents of Ukraine aid, many of whom are close allies of former Republican president Donald Trump as he seeks re-election to the White House next year, kept up their drumbeat against help for Kyiv on Monday.