An analysis of President Joe Biden’s request to Congress for a $100 billion spending package shows that more than half will go to aid Ukraine, while improving security along the U.S.-Mexico border and helping Israel each receiving billions of dollars in aid.
Plans for the funding request will see $60 billion given to Ukraine to help in the war against Russia and $14 billion to Israel as it prepares for a ground invasion of Gaza, according to a source familiar with the plan.
Another $10 billion is earmarked for humanitarian aid and $7 billion for the Indo-Pacific region, including to strengthen Taiwan.
Biden, 80, addressed the American people from the Oval Office on Thursday evening, urging lawmakers to pass the spending package.
The proposal is already facing resistance from Republicans in Congress, who are reluctant to give new money to Ukraine and do not want different financings to be grouped together.
An analysis of President Joe Biden’s request to Congress for a $100 billion spending package shows that more than half will go to Ukraine, while only $14 billion is earmarked for U.S. border security.
Biden, 80, addressed the American people from the Oval Office on Thursday evening, urging lawmakers to pass the spending package
Top Republicans are said to be making plans to block President Biden’s additional funding demand — saying there is no way forward if Israel, Ukraine and southern border aid are linked.
On Thursday, Republican Senator Roger Marshall wrote a letter signed by seven additional Republican Senate colleagues demanding that aid to Israel and Ukraine be discussed separately.
The eight senators said Biden “risks a government shutdown” by tying the aid packages together.
“My colleagues and I are convinced that all aid to Israel should not be used as leverage to send tens of billions of dollars more to Ukraine.
“These are two separate conflicts at different stages and cannot be considered a ‘package agreement,’” Marshall wrote.
The administration has indicated it will include both border money and border policy provisions, not all of which will be welcome among Senate Republicans who will be critical to passage.
Biden is greeted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after arriving at Ben Gurion International Airport on October 18
Biden will be welcomed in Kiev by President Volodomyr Zelensky in a surprise February
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said this week that Republicans want the package to include “something serious” for the border.
The package, which would provide US funding for a year at a time of global unrest, would also boost Taiwan’s bid to stave off a feared invasion from China.
During his speech, the president linked the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, pleading “we cannot let terrorists like Hamas and Putin win.”
He noted that Iran provided military support to both Russia and the terrorist group.
Sitting at the Resolute Desk, Biden argued in his 15-minute speech that Russian President Vladimir Putin and the terrorist group Hamas, responsible for the bloody attack on Israel on October 7, “represent different threats” but share a common goal.
“They both want to completely destroy a neighboring democracy,” he said.
“American leadership is what holds the world together. American alliances are what keeps us – America – safe.
“It is American values that make us a partner that other countries want to work with.
“To jeopardize all that when we leave Ukraine, we turn our backs on Israel – it’s just not worth it.”
Biden also said Putin’s “hunger for power and control” means he “will not limit himself to Ukraine,” which could lead to a conflict involving NATO countries.
If that happens, Biden warned, “we’ll have something we’re not looking for.”
“We are not seeking to have American troops fighting in Russia, or fighting against Russia,” he said.
Israeli soldiers drive their armored vehicles towards the Gaza Strip border on October 16, 2023, amid ongoing fighting between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas
Ukrainian soldiers patrol after a Russian military attack in Ugledar, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on February 19, 2023
The president told the relatives of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas in Israel during the October 7 terror attack that “we are pursuing every opportunity to bring their loved ones home.”
“As president, there is no higher priority for me than the safety of Americans held hostage,” he said.
“The Hamas terrorist has unleashed pure and unadulterated evil into the world, which unfortunately the Jewish people know perhaps better than anyone else that there is no limit to the depravity of people when they want to hurt others.”
Biden also pushed for foreign aid to enter Gaza, where Palestinian civilians are suffering as the terror group Hamas fires rockets into Israel.
Biden’s funding request comes at a time when half of Congress is in chaos.
The House of Representatives has been without a speaker since Oct. 3, when Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz filed a motion to remove House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from the top position.