Polls show a majority of Republicans are skeptical about further aid to Ukraine, although Senate sources expect Senate members in both the House and House of Representatives to eventually back another Ukraine package.
According to a recent nationwide poll, 55 percent of the country’s citizens and 71 percent of Republicans oppose Congress approving additional funds to help Ukraine.
Seventy Republicans in the House of Representatives last month voted in favor of an amendment tabled by Rep. Matt Gaetz (Florida) to cut all aid to Ukraine, losing by 358 votes against.
This month, Biden called on lawmakers to allocate $40 billion in total emergency spending to fund this conflict and allocate federal disaster relief funds to repair fire and storm damage and increase security at the southern border.
Of that amount, more than $13 billion would be used for military assistance to Ukraine and another $8 billion for humanitarian purposes by the end of the year, another massive injection of funds amid repeated complaints from Russia that the United States’ position distances itself from the possibility of a negotiated exit from the war.
The package also includes $12 billion to replenish federal funds for domestic disaster response after a deadly heat and storm season, as well as funds to bolster law enforcement on the southern border with Mexico, a priority for Republicans.
The August 23 presidential debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, exposed disagreements within the Republican Party over providing billions in additional military and humanitarian aid to the former Soviet republic.
During the face-to-face meeting, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy described continued United States support for the war as “catastrophic,” with which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis agreed, an idea aligned with former President Donald Trump.
Tying Ukraine’s funding and emergency disaster relief to an interim government funding measure, which must be approved by September 30 (fiscal year-end), is an option, but members of the Freedom Caucus signaled last week that it was going to be a tough debate in the House of Commons.
The more conservative wing of the House of Representatives says it will oppose any further decision on government funding if COVID-19-era waste continues.
With that in mind, they called on congressional leaders to lower the defense and non-defense maximums to $1.471 trillion, below the total spending limit agreed upon by Biden and Kevin McCarthy (president of that legislature) for fiscal year 2024.
According to some observers, Congress appears on track to bring about a partial government shutdown on October 1, as it ultimately failed to reach agreement on approving 12 budget bills to fund its operations before the start of the new fiscal year.
While the current Oval Office resident continues to be plagued by criticism of this direct money pipeline to Ukraine. Recent events have met him with the vision that he supports more of this conflict than, say, the devastation left by wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
