Biden: ‘Not much time’ to keep Ukraine aid going
GOP may tie funds to fight Russia to US border policy
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Sunday that American aid to Ukraine will keep flowing for now as he sought to reassure allies of continued U.S. financial support for the war effort. But time is running out, the president said in a warning to Congress.
“We cannot under any circumstances allow American (aid) for Ukraine to be interrupted,” Biden said in remarks from the Roosevelt Room after Congress averted a government shutdown by passing a shortterm funding package late Saturday that dropped assistance for Ukraine in the battle against Russia.
“We have time, not much time, and there’s an overwhelming sense of urgency,” he said, noting that the funding bill lasts only until mid-November. Biden urged Congress to negotiate an aid package as soon as possible.
“The vast majority of both parties — Democrats and Republicans, Senate and House — support helping Ukraine and the brutal aggression that is being thrust upon them by Russia,” Biden said. “Stop playing games, get this done.’’
But many lawmakers acknowledge that winning approval for Ukraine assistance in Congress is growing more difficult as the war grinds on. Republican resistance to the aid has been gaining momentum, and the next steps are key, given the stance from the hard-right flank.
While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has begun a process to consider legislation providing more Ukraine aid, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., faces a more difficult task in keeping the commitment he made over the objections of nearly half of his GOP majority.
He told CBS’ “Face on the Nation” that he supported “being able to make sure Ukraine has the weapons that they need,” but that his priority was security at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“I firmly support the border first,” he said. “So we’ve got to find a way that we can do this together.”
By omitting more Ukraine aid from the measure to keep the government running, McCarthy closed the door on a Senate package that would have funneled $6 billion to Ukraine, roughly one-third of what has been requested by the White House.
Both the House and Senate overwhelmingly approved the stopgap measure, with members of both parties abandoning the increased aid in favor of avoiding a costly government shutdown.
Now Biden is working to reassure U.S. allies that more money will be there.
“Look at me,” he said turning his face to the cameras at the White House. “We’re going to get it done. I can’t believe those who voted for supporting Ukraine — overwhelming majority in the House and Senate, Democrat and Republican — will for pure political reasons let more people die needlessly in Ukraine.”
Foreign allies, though, were concerned.
Speaking in Kyiv after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said European officials were surprised by the last-minute agreement in Washington and pledged the 27-nation bloc would carry on helping the invaded country defeat Russia.
“I have hope that this will not be a definitive decision, and Ukraine will continue having the support of the U.S.,” Borrell said.
“We are facing an existential threat. Ukrainians are fighting with all their courage and capacities, and if we want them to be successful, then you have to provide them with better arms, and quicker,” the Spanish diplomat said.
Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said America’s relationship with Ukraine had not changed and that Ukrainian officials meet regularly with representatives from both the Democratic and Republican parties.
“All of Ukraine’s key partners are determined to support our country until its victory in this war,” he wrote on Telegram.
The exclusion of the money for Ukraine came little more than a week after lawmakers met in the Capitol with Zelenskyy.
He sought to assure them that his military was winning the war but stressed that additional aid would be crucial.
After that visit, Schumer said that one sentence summed up Zelenskyy’s message in his meeting with the Senate: “If we don’t get the aid, we will lose the war,” Schumer said.