WASHINGTON, May 9 (Reuters) – Democrats in the US Congress have agreed to provide $ 39.8 billion in additional aid to Ukraine, two sources familiar with the proposal said Monday, easing fears that delayed voting could cut off US arms flows. to the government in Kyiv.
The House of Representatives may adopt a plan that goes beyond President Joe Biden’s request last month for $ 33 billion as early as Tuesday, and Senate leaders said they were also ready to act quickly.
A proposal for additional funding related to COVID-19, which some Democrats wanted to combine with emergency funding for Ukraine, will now be considered separately.
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On April 28, Biden asked Congress for $ 33 billion to support Ukraine, including more than $ 20 billion in military aid. This proposal was a dramatic escalation of US funding for the war with Russia. Read more
The new proposal includes an additional $ 3.4 billion in military aid and $ 3.4 billion in humanitarian aid, sources said.
Biden’s colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, said they supported more aid to Ukraine and would quickly approve emergency funding, but this was delayed due to disputes between the parties over whether additional funding should be included to ease COVID-19 or tighter immigration controls. .
INTERRUPTION TO SUPPLIES?
The delay has sparked fears across the capital.
Biden issued a statement urging lawmakers to accept the funding and deliver it to his desk to sign into law over the next few days. “We cannot allow our aid deliveries to stop while we wait for further action by Congress,” he said.
In letters to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and key committee chairmen in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the military had enough funds to send weapons to Kyiv only for the next two weeks.
A bird flies past the United States Capitol in Washington, DC, March 17, 2022. REUTERS / Emily Elconin
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“We need your help,” Blinken and Austin wrote in letters reviewed by Reuters. They said there was only $ 100 million left to draw from a power that allows the president to allow arms transfers without congressional approval in response to an emergency.
“We expect to exhaust this power no later than May 19, 2022,” they wrote.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told reporters he was pleased that aid to Ukraine was separated from aid to COVID-19. He has repeatedly advocated a bill for a “clean” Ukraine in speeches in the Senate.
Some Democrats said they were disappointed that aid for COVID-19 would be considered separately.
“It would be much better for us to defend the United States, as well as work to defend Ukraine,” Senate Democrat Dick Durbin told reporters.
Asked if the release of aid to Ukraine harms the prospects for aid to COVID-19, Durbin said: “It does not help. Putting the two together would be positive. “
In a statement, Biden called on Congress to take immediate funding for COVID-19. “Without timely funding from COVID, more Americans will die unnecessarily,” he said.
“We will lose our place in the queue for America to order new treatments and vaccines for COVID in the fall, including next-generation vaccines under development, and we will not be able to maintain our supply of COVID tests.
Separately, Biden on Monday signed legislation reviving the Land Leasing Act, a World War II-era program that helped defeat Hitler’s Germany by allowing Washington to lease or lease military equipment to US allies. -fast.
In this case, it will help those affected by the Russian invasion, such as Poland and other Eastern European countries, as well as Ukraine.
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Report by Patricia Zengerle, additional reports by Humeira Pamuk, Idris Ali and Richard Cowan; Edited by Leslie Adler, Howard Goller and Richard Pullin
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