2024-04-07 23:58:29
Some Democrats in the US House of Representatives are calling for the bill to separate aid to Ukraine from aid to other countries, including Israel. This was reported by the American portal Semafor with reference to a source in the apparatus of the US Congress, Day.Az reports with reference to TASS.
According to him, such calls have recently become more frequent, as there is growing dissatisfaction among Democrats that the Jewish state continues military operations in the Gaza Strip. Democrats “stressed the urgency” of providing assistance to Ukraine and offered several options on how best to do it. In particular, Semafor notes that a new bill is likely to be put to a vote, but the exact ways to separate aid to Ukraine from aid to Israel are not yet clear.
Earlier, on the contrary, legislators led by Susan Wild (D-Pa.) sent a letter to Speaker of the House of Representatives of the US Congress Mike Johnson and demanded that he include funds for the supply of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip in the package of financial assistance to foreign allies, including Ukraine. and other hot spots. In addition to the Gaza Strip and Ukraine, Democratic congressmen are proposing to fund humanitarian assistance to those in need in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Venezuela, Haiti, Lebanon and Sudan.
Controversy on Capitol Hill
On March 31, Johnson, in an interview with Fox, announced his readiness to raise the issue of resuming aid to Kyiv in the House of Representatives after her return from the Easter holidays on April 9. He also signaled his desire to include in this version of the bill provisions on the use of “confiscated assets of Russian oligarchs” and a “credit concept” that would involve Kiev returning the funds received to Washington “at the right time.” In addition, Johnson emphasized that he would like to use this bill to stimulate the development of the US energy sector, primarily to increase natural gas exports, so that this would help reduce Russia’s fuel supplies abroad.
The Washington administration has already sent a request to Congress for additional budgetary appropriations in the 2024 fiscal year, which began in the United States on October 1, 2023, primarily to assist Israel and Ukraine and to counter China and Russia in the Asia-Pacific region. In total, the executive branch of government led by Biden would like to receive about $106 billion for these purposes. The further fate of the request and alternative bills remains unclear. A number of Republicans in the House and Senate have spoken out in recent months against continuing to provide financial support to Kyiv.