BIDEN SEEKS BILLIONS FOR ISRAEL, UKRAINE
Request includes money for weapons, humanitarian aid
President Joe Biden on Friday unveiled a $106 billion proposal that primarily consists of funding for Ukraine and Israel.
The package, which comes after the president addressed the nation Thursday evening about the war in Israel, reflects the White House’s desire to demonstrate U.S. resolve on a range of international fronts. The plan is likely to be passed quickly in the Senate, where it is expected to garner bipartisan support. But it faces a more uncertain fate in the
House of Representatives, which is still trying to decide on its next speaker.
“History has taught us that when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror — when dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression — they cause more chaos and death and more destruction,” Biden said. “And the cost and the threats to America and the world keep rising.”
The bulk of the package is aid to Ukraine, both military and economic. That is also likely to prove the most contentious part of the funding, with House Republicans balking at Biden’s handling of the conflict, now in its second year.
The three other biggest pots are aid to Israel, which is preparing for a ground invasion of Gaza; international humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, Israel and the Gaza Strip; and increased security along the U.S.-Mexico border as the country grapples with a surge of migrants.
Biden’s funding request calls for Congress to approve $14.3 billion for Israel, after the Hamas incursion that killed more than 1,000 people. More than $10 billion would go to military needs, primarily air- and missile-defense support.
Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and member of the Council on Foreign Relations, said Israel primarily needs the United States to provide bombs that can penetrate the reinforced concrete of Hamas structures in Gaza, as well as for possible use in Lebanon. Cohen said the other top priority for
Washington is to expedite shipments of air tankers, which are crucial to extending the range of Israel’s air force. The funding request will also provide money for Israel to replenish its Iron Dome air defense system.
“To let Israel down now would be sending the wrong signal to our allies,” Cohen said.
Critics of providing additional funds have warned of the devastating consequences of a possible Israeli ground offensive, with thousands of Palestinians already dead in Israeli strikes. The United States already provides at least $3 billion to Israel every year.
The largest portion of Biden’s request, however, includes a full year of funding for Ukraine, or $61.4 billion, after the administration has struggled to pass aid to the country because of opposition from House Republicans.
At least $45 billion of that would go to military needs. The United States has been sending existing stockpiles of munitions and weapons to Ukraine, and the congressional funds would allow the Biden administration to replenish those stockpiles.
If the United States withdraws support from Ukraine, “within a couple weeks, or a couple months, the Ukrainians would collapse, if the Russians could take advantage of it,” said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.
The package also calls for
Congress to approve roughly $10 billion for humanitarian needs across Israel, Ukraine and Gaza, as well as “other global needs.”
At home, Biden’s request would provide more than $6 billion for “border operations,” including $4.4 billion for the Department of Homeland Security and $3.1 billion for additional Border Patrol agents, asylum officers and processing personnel. The request also includes $1.4 billion to help state and local governments with shelter and services for migrants.
Biden officials also included $4 billion to aid allies in the Indo-Pacific as the United States tries to counter China’s rising influence in the region.