The ouster of U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday has put the question of future U.S. military aid to Ukraine in further doubt, with President Joe Biden expressing “worry” on Wednesday.
Biden’s request for another US$24 billion to ensure Ukraine’s defence effort is funded through the rest of the year was already in jeopardy after the funds were removed from a short-term spending deal that prevented a government shutdown last week.
Now, Congress has been paralyzed by McCarthy’s unprecedented removal. Legislation cannot be brought up for votes in the House of Representatives before a new Speaker is elected, and lawmakers must first focus on passing spending legislation before Nov. 16, or else the government will shut down again.
“It does worry me,” Biden told reporters on Wednesday when asked if the chaos in the House concerned him when it comes to further Ukraine aid. He suggested there may be “an alternate means” to get funding for Ukraine without Congress, but declined to explain further.
Biden said he would be delivering a “major speech” soon about the importance of continuing to fund Ukraine’s defence effort, which he noted still has strong bipartisan support among a majority of House and Senate members.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre would not say when that speech will be delivered, telling reporters later on Wednesday she would not get ahead of Biden’s comments. She also noted the bipartisan support for Ukraine, but admitted the objections of some Republicans were proving to be an obstacle.
“When you have a small fraction of a party that is causing that type of chaos, you know, it doesn’t look great across the globe,” Jean-Pierre said. “That doesn’t look very promising.”
Biden on Tuesday convened a call with allies and partners to discuss Ukraine. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was on the call along with leaders from the European Union, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, France and NATO.
Polish President Andrzej Duda told local media after the call that Biden had assured the leaders that support for Ukraine in the U.S. Congress is much broader than media reports suggest.
“He said that he will get that backing in the Congress,” Duda said.
The White House’s readout of the call said Biden “reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes as it defends its sovereignty and territorial integrity, with fellow leaders echoing their commitments.”
Just how Biden plans to achieve that aim is getting increasingly unclear.
The U.S. has approved four rounds of aid to Ukraine in response to Russia’s invasion, totalling about US$113 billion, with some of that money going toward replenishment of U.S. military equipment that was sent to the front lines.
The U.S. is by far the biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine, committing more than twice the amount of the second-largest donor, Germany, according to data from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
A small but growing number of Republicans in the House are staunchly opposed to providing any more funding to Ukraine. Most of that opposition is centred on calls to reroute foreign aid to domestic concerns, including enhancing security at the U.S. border with Mexico and combating inflation.
At least one opponent, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, has pointed to Canada’s recent honouring of a Ukrainian military veteran who fought with a Nazi unit in the Second World War during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address to Parliament as a reason to halt future funding.
That honour was revoked and the subject of multiple apologies — as well as the resignation of the House of Commons Speaker — after reports on the man’s past emerged.
Before his ouster on Tuesday, McCarthy had signalled over the weekend that he supports linking new Ukraine funding with southern border security improvements. The White House has urged Congress to address those issues separately.
McCarthy agreed to separate the Ukraine aid from spending negotiations that led to the short-term resolution passed on Saturday. That put the House at odds with the Senate, which had included about US$6 billion in its own short-term bill but then removed it, ultimately agreeing to the House version to avoid a shutdown.
Senate leadership from both parties reaffirmed their support for Ukraine after passing that bill on Saturday and said they were committed to getting further funding passed. Following McCarthy’s ouster, senators said they were concerned.
“The fight in Ukraine is a century-defining moment,” said Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut. “The rest of this century looks radically different if the United States abandons Ukraine. … If the decision in the House is to elect a speaker who will fight against Ukraine funding, that’s a decision that will be written about in the history books.”
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, another Democrat, said he hopes House Republicans “come to their senses.” If the U.S. can’t help a country that is willing to sacrifice its own people to fight Russia, Manchin said, then “God help us all.”
Senate Republicans have expressed support for tying Ukraine aid to border security funding, seeing it as a possible compromise that could guarantee the aid’s passage while providing a political win for Republicans who have made the border a key issue.
The exclusion of money for Ukraine came little more than a week after Zelenskyy met with lawmakers in the Capitol. He sought to assure them that his military was winning the war, but stressed that additional assistance would be crucial.
Biden’s tease of “another means” to support Ukraine came a day after the Pentagon transferred 1.1 million ammunition rounds to Ukraine. The rounds had been seized by Iran, whose Revolutionary Guard Corps had attempted to send to Houthi forces in Yemen in violation of United Nations sanctions, according to U.S. Central Command.
Pierre would not say on Wednesday if such actions were part of the strategy teased by Biden, only saying the transfer reflected the U.S.’s ongoing commitment to supporting Ukraine wherever possible.
Questions over further U.S. aid for Ukraine comes as international support among Western allies shows some fissures. Poland recently halted military exports to Ukraine amid a larger fight between the two countries over grain prices that has since been resolved.
Former Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, whose populist party won last weekend’s parliamentary elections, has vowed to also stop aiding Ukraine. The country hosts a key rail line that has transported U.S. military hardware to the battlefield, including tanks and missile systems.
Top European Union diplomats vowed on Monday during a visit to Kyiv that its members were united in supporting Ukraine and defeating Russia’s invasion.
—with files from the Associated Press