Biden will ask Congress for more than $2 billion in aid to Israel and Ukraine

The president of USA, Joe Bidenwill ask the Congress to approve a military aid package to Israel and Ukraine worth more than US$2 billion, the national security advisor of the White HouseJake Sullivan.

“We need Congress to act. “The president has made it clear that he will present to Congress a package of aid to Ukraine and continued support for Israel.”Sullivan said in an interview with the US network CBS.

When asked if the aid package would be $2 billion, as some local media have reported, Sullivan responded: “The figure will be significantly higher than that.”

In the United States Congress, there is broad bipartisan support to provide Israel with all the military aid it needs, as Democratic President Joe Biden promised after the October 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, which has led to a spiral of violence with thousands of fatalities.

However, the Republican Party is divided on aid to kyiv.

The majority of Republicans in the Senate, especially their leader, Mitch McConnell, are in favor of continuing to support Ukraine against Russia; But some Republicans in the Lower House, where legislators aligned with former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) have more power, oppose this idea.

Trump himself maintains that no more aid should be given to Ukraine and has stated on several occasions that Europe should be the main provider of aid.

The Biden Government wants to take advantage of the fact that there is support from both parties for aid to Israel to link it with assistance to Ukraine and overcome the obstacles it has encountered so far in the Lower House.

Sullivan announced in the CBS interview that the Administration has scheduled “intense” talks with Congress this week to support aid to both countries.

However, an obstacle to the approval of any aid is the lack of a speaker of the House of Representatives, after the most radical faction of the Republican Party removed Kevin McCarthy from that position on October 3.

The ultraconservative legislator Jim Jordan, representative of Ohio and founder of the so-called “Freedom Caucus” (Freedom Caucus), pro-Trump, was nominated last Friday to occupy the position of speaker of the Lower House, which would make him the highest-ranking Republican in Washington.

However, it is not clear whether Jordan has enough support, since on Friday 55 Republicans made it clear with their vote that they will not support him when his candidacy is put to a vote on the full House of Representatives.

The vote to elect the president of the Lower House is scheduled for Tuesday around 12:00 local time (16:00 GMT), as reported this Sunday by the “number two” of the Democrats in that chamber, Katherine Clark.

While the Lower House decides its course, the Senate could be the first to approve a bill with aid to Ukraine and Israel, according to the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, who leads a delegation of the Congress visits Tel Aviv to show support for Israel.

“We are not waiting for the House. “We believe that if the Senate acts in a bipartisan manner, the chances of the House acting, even with its current dysfunction, may improve,” Schumer said.

The United States is Israel’s greatest ally and has been the country that has provided the most aid to it since World War II, having approved more than US$4.4 billion in assistance in fiscal year 2023, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service. (CRS).