After the White House’s request for additional funding for Ukraine became a sticking point in efforts to fund the government and avoid a shutdown last month, the Israel-Hamas war is now adding another layer to the debate.
On Tuesday, the White House confirmed it was preparing to ask Congress to approve additional assistance to Israel days after the militant terrorist group Hamas launched an attack on the long-time American ally.
“When Congress returns, we are going to ask them to take urgent action upon the national security requirements of our critical partners,” Biden said during a speech on the war at the White House on Tuesday.
The president’s reference to partners in the plural form further raised questions about whether such a request would include aid to Ukraine as it continues to battle Russia’s invasion. Conversations about the assistance to Israel and assistance to Ukraine potentially being tied together were already growing on Monday, with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul, R-Texas, telling reporters at the Capitol Monday night that is “one of the options” he is hearing floated.
“There's also Taiwan – China, countering China being tied to that. Border security will be a big part of this,” McCaul added.
The Texas Republican told multiple outlets he believes such a potential border security bill tying in Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan would be “a good package.”
But even the idea of coupling what has proven to be a thorny topic with assistance to Israel has immediately received pushback from some on the right.
“Why would the White House even go down this road of tying Ukraine and Israel?” Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., told reporters Monday night, as reported by Punchbowl News and Roll Call. “Obviously, Ukraine is an issue in our conference.”
“Let’s make sure we take care of Israel and get them what they need. We’ll take care of everything else later,” he added.
The White House on Tuesday, while not clarifying if the two would be considered together or separately, made clear Biden would be asking Congress for both.
“The President was very clear today that we will be making a request and it will include a request for funding for support to Israel,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on Tuesday. “And he has also been equally clear that we are going to renew our request to the Congress for aid to Ukraine.”
Asked directly if the aid to both countries would be presented in the same request, Sullivan did not answer, saying the “exact form that all takes – that will be worked out and presented by others, not by me.”
“But the notion that we are going to go up and ask for Israel aid and Ukraine aid, that’s unequivocal, we are going to do that,” he said.
In August, the White House requested an additional about $24 billion in aid to Ukraine for October through the end of December. But the assistance was left out of the stopgap funding measure Congress passed to keep the government running through Nov. 17.
That short-term funding bill ultimately triggered the historic ousting of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., leading President Joe Biden to tell reporters last week he is worried about getting the aid to Ukraine passed — despite saying he still believes there is bipartisan support for the effort.
McCaul on Monday, however, emphasized all the talk about assistance does not matter if the House GOP cannot choose a speaker.
“If we don't have a speaker, we can't put anything on the floor and we're paralyzed,” he said.