The Biden administration on Tuesday made public its extra funding requests to Congress for the rest of the fiscal year, including another $37.7 billion to boost Ukraine’s fight against Russia and $10 billion to respond to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The two requests were sent to Congress this week as lawmakers come together to agree on a broader government spending bill for the rest of fiscal year 2023, which runs through next September. The current government funding expires Dec. 16.
Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Tuesday outlining three priorities: “protecting the American people from COVID-19 and saving lives globally; supporting the people of Ukraine; and helping communities across the Nation recover from devastating natural disasters.”
The White House hasn’t come up with an exact number for natural disasters yet, senior administration officials said. But it will go to help Florida and Puerto Rico recover from hurricanes, as well as other communities who dealt with things like flooding and wildfires this last year.
“The American people rightly expect their leaders to come together and deliver on these priorities, and I urge the Congress to address them as part of a comprehensive, bipartisan agreement in the weeks ahead,” Young wrote.
The $37.7 billion for Ukraine includes $21.7 billion for the Pentagon to continue supporting Ukraine with military equipment, replenishing its own stocks and intelligence support. Other funds would go to aid the country’s government, food security and energy.
Some House Republicans have cast doubt on continued support for Ukraine if they win the voting majority, questioning the amount of money going to the country compared to domestic priorities, plus whether there is enough oversight of the funds.
To date, the support has been bipartisan. The U.S. has provided more than $18 billion in security assistance to Ukrainian forces since Biden took office.
Asked about the size of the Ukraine aid request and whether it was meant to preempt a lack of GOP support, a senior administration official said the package was designed to be part of the broad government spending bill for all of 2023, meaning it “makes sense” to tie the Ukraine to the longer-term funding.
On COVID-19, the Biden administration has been pushing since last spring for additional funds to keep up the supply of things like vaccines, tests and treatments, but those efforts have not gotten through Congress.
The $10 billion request includes $2.5 billion for supplies, especially vaccines, $5 billion to support the development of future COVID shots, $750 for long COVID research and $750 for supplies around other infectious diseases like smallpox and hepatitis C.