President Joe Biden unveiled a $105 billion foreign aid package on Friday, the bulk of which is dedicated to providing security assistance to Israel and Ukraine. But the request remains in legislative limbo as the unprecedented chaos over the lack of a Speaker of the House is about to enter its fourth week with no signs of abating.
The request follows Biden’s whirlwind trip to Israel on Wednesday and his speech from the Oval Office on Thursday, in which he attempted to tie the two conflicts together. “History has taught us that when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror — when dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression — they cause more chaos and death and more destruction,” Biden said.
“They keep going, and the costs of the threats to America and the world keep rising,” Biden added. American leadership, the president claimed, is “what holds the world together.”
The two largest line items in the aid package are $61 billion of funding for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel. Most of the latter is earmarked for air and missile defense. The White House had been considering lumping an aid request for Israel and Ukraine into the same package for over a week, hoping to capitalize on near-unanimous Republican support for Israel to boost the chances of Ukraine support passing Congressional muster, where Republican support for Ukraine has flagged.
“The unwavering bipartisan support for Ukraine in the United States is incredibly encouraging for all of our warriors and our entire nation,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on Friday. “America’s investment in Ukraine’s defense will ensure long-term security for all of Europe and the world.”
But the House will only be able to vote on a funding package once it resolves its inability to select a new Speaker, a crisis that entered a new phase this week after Ohio Representative Jim Jordan lost three straight votes for the top House job. On Thursday, Republicans retreated from a proposal that would have temporarily given Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry the full powers of the speakership.
“The world is watching, and the American people rightly expect their leaders to come together and deliver on these priorities,” Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young wrote to Mchenry in a letter outlining the administration’s funding request. “I urge Congress to address them as part of a comprehensive, bipartisan agreement in the weeks ahead.”
Young has declined to say whether the administration has a plan if the House quagmire continues. “That is a matter for the House to work out,” Young told CNN Friday. “It is the president’s job, our job is to make clear to Congress what the needs are and what happens if this critical funding is not delivered. So, we’re doing our job here by letting Congress know what the critical needs are, and we expect them to act and act swiftly.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday that the Senate wouldn’t wait for the lower chamber to elect a Speaker to act on the aid request. “This legislation is too important to wait for the House to settle their chaos,” he said. “Senate Democrats will move expeditiously on this request, and we hope that our Republican colleagues across the aisle will join us to pass this much-needed funding.”
In addition to military aid, the funding package includes roughly $10 billion for humanitarian needs across Israel, Palestine, and Ukraine, though the White House has not clarified how much each group is slated to receive. On Wednesday, Biden announced $100 million in humanitarian aid for civilians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Jack McCordick
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