2024-04-17 18:55:00
The Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, published three separate bills on military assistance to UkraineIsrael and Taiwan.
Later on Thursday, he also promised to unveil a fourth US national security bill, addressing the use of frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, new sanctions on Iran and the blocking of TikTok.
Bill on assistance to Ukraine assumes allocation of 60.8 billion dollars, of which 13.8 billion will be used for the purchase of new weapons and equipment, and another more than 23 billion for replenishment of American weapons stocks.
In addition, the document obliges the US President to provide Ukraine with long-range ATACMS missiles. However, the head of the White House may postpone this decision if he considers that the transfer of missiles could harm the national security interests of the United States.
If the bill is adopted, the US administration must provide Congress with a long-term “strategy for supporting Ukraine” within 45 days, and within 60 days, conclude an agreement with Kiev on the return of assistance provided.
The aid bills for Israel and Taiwan provide $26 billion and $8 billion, respectively.
A vote on the separate military aid packages in the House of Representatives is expected on April 20, Mike Johnson said.
US President Joe Biden has already spoke in support of the promulgated bills and called on Congress to quickly adopt the documents.
The US Congress has been unable to approve $61 billion in military aid to Ukraine since last fall due to disagreements between Republicans and Democrats. The military aid package for Kyiv was part of a single US national security bill, which Republicans refused to accept due to its lack of measures to protect the American border.
Bloomberg wrote that the White House does not have a “Plan B” for military assistance to Ukraine, with the exception of this $61 billion, which cannot be allocated due to disagreements in Congress. In turn, US Presidential National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan argued in mid-March that the military aid bill to Ukraine would receive bipartisan approval. However, he did not predict when this would happen.
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