WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Friday asked Congress to provide nearly $106 billion (100 billion euros) to finance ambitious projects for Ukraine, Israel and US border security, without proposing any strategy to secure these funds as Congress faces a major political crisis.
US President Joe Biden’s funding request comes days after his visit to Israel, where he pledged solidarity as the country bombs Gaza following an attack by Hamas militants that killed 1,400 died in southern Israel.
By bundling funds for Israel with those for Ukraine, border security, refugee aid, measures to counter China and other hotly debated priorities, Joe Biden hopes to have created a blueprint national security spending bill able to pass with support from the chaotic House of Representatives.
The House, with a Republican majority, has been without a leader for more than two weeks.
Some Republican lawmakers are skeptical of the need to help Ukraine’s war effort and are threatening to shut down government services to halt debt-fueled budget spending.
“The world is watching, and the American people rightly expect their leaders to come together and deliver on these priorities,” said Shalanda Young, Joe Biden’s budget director, in a letter to President Patrick McHenry. exercise of the House of Representatives.
Some $14.3 billion of the funding for fiscal year 2024 would go to Israel, largely to support air and missile defense systems.
Biden also wants to devote more than $9 billion to humanitarian aid, particularly in Israel and Gaza. $61.4 billion would go to Ukraine.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Jarrett Renshaw and Doina Chiacu; French version Victor Goury-Laffont, editing by Zhifan Liu)
2023-10-20 15:39:00
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