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Biden Fight With GOP for Aid Over 04/24 06:09
President Joe Biden's long, painful battle with Republicans in Congress to
secure urgently needed assistance for Ukraine will end Wednesday when he signs
into law a $95 billion war aid measure that also includes support for Israel,
Taiwan and other allies.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Joe Biden's long, painful battle with
Republicans in Congress to secure urgently needed assistance for Ukraine will
end Wednesday when he signs into law a $95 billion war aid measure that also
includes support for Israel, Taiwan and other allies.
But significant damage has been done to the Biden administration's effort to
help Ukraine repel Russia's brutal invasion during the funding impasse that
dates back to August, when the Democratic president made his first emergency
spending request for Ukraine aid. Even with a burst of new weapons and
ammunition, it is unlikely Ukraine will immediately recover after months of
setbacks.
Biden is expected to quickly approve the transfer of an initial aid package
of about $1 billion in military assistance -- the first tranche from about $61
billion allocated for Ukraine, according to U.S. officials. It is expected to
include air defense capabilities, artillery rounds, armored vehicles and other
weapons to shore up Ukrainian forces who have seen morale sink as Russian
President Vladimir Putin has racked up win after win.
In a statement after the Senate passed the package Tuesday night, Biden said
he would sign it as soon as he receives it on Wednesday.
"This critical legislation will make our nation and world more secure as we
support our friends who are defending themselves against terrorists like Hamas
and tyrants like Putin," Biden said.
But longer term, it remains uncertain if Ukraine -- after months of losses
in Eastern Ukraine and sustaining massive damage to its infrastructure -- can
make enough progress to sustain American political support before burning
through the latest influx of money.
"It's not going in the Ukrainians' favor in the Donbas, certainly not
elsewhere in the country," said White House national security spokesman John
Kirby, referring to the eastern industrial heartland where Ukraine has suffered
setbacks. "Mr. Putin thinks he can play for time. So we've got to try to make
up some of that time."
Russia now appears focused on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city.
Russian forces have exploited air defense shortages in the city,pummeling the
region's energy infrastructure, and looking to shape conditions for a potential
summer offensive to seize the city.
House Speaker Mike Johnson delayed a vote on the supplemental aid package
for months as members of his party's far right wing, including Reps. Marjorie
Taylor Greene of Georgia and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, threatened to move to
oust him if he allowed a vote to send more assistance to Ukraine. Those threats
persist.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested his fellow Republicans'
holding up the funding could have a lasting impact on Ukraine's hopes of
winning the war.
"Make no mistake: Delay in providing Ukraine the weapons to defend itself
has strained the prospects of defeating Russian aggression," McConnell said
Tuesday. "Dithering and hesitation have compounded the challenges we face."
Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive 2024 presidential GOP
nominee, has complained that European allies have not done enough for Ukraine.
While he stopped short of endorsing the supplemental funding package, his tone
has shifted in recent days, acknowledging that Ukraine's survival is important
to the United States.
Indeed, many European leaders have long been nervous that a second Trump
presidency would mean decreased U.S. support for Ukraine and for the NATO
military alliance. The European anxiety was heightened in February when Trump
in a campaign speech warned NATO allies that he "would encourage" Russia "to do
whatever the hell they want" to countries that don't meet defense spending
goals if he returns to the White House.
It was a key moment in the debate over Ukraine spending. NATO
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg quickly called out Trump for putting
"American and European soldiers at increased risk." Biden days later called
Trump's comments "dangerous" and "un-American" and accused Trump of playing
into Putin's hands.
But in reality, the White House maneuvering to win additional funding for
Ukraine started months earlier.
Biden, the day after returning from a whirlwind trip to Tel Aviv following
Hamas militants' stunning Oct. 7 attack on Israel, used a rare prime time
address to make his pitch for the supplemental funding.
At the time, the House was in chaos because the Republican majority had been
unable to select a speaker to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who had been ousted
more than two weeks earlier. McCarthy's reckoning with the GOP's far right came
after he agreed earlier in the year to allow federal spending levels that many
in his right flank disagreed with and wanted undone.
Far-right Republicans have also adamantly opposed sending more money for
Ukraine, with the war appearing to have no end in sight. Biden in August
requested more than $20 billion to keep aid flowing into Ukraine, but the money
was stripped out of a must-pass spending bill even as Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Washington to make a personal plea for
continued U.S. backing.
By late October, Republicans finally settled on Johnson, a low-profile
Louisiana Republican whose thinking on Ukraine was opaque, to serve as the next
speaker. Biden during his congratulatory call with Johnson urged him to quickly
pass Ukraine aid and began a months-long, largely behind-the-scenes effort to
bring the matter to a vote.
In private conversations with Johnson, Biden and White House officials
leaned into the stakes for Europe if Ukraine were to fall to Russia. Five days
after Johnson was formally elected speaker, national security adviser Jake
Sullivan outlined to him the administration's strategy on Ukraine and assured
him that accountability measures were in place in Ukraine to track where the
aid was going -- an effort to address a common complaint from conservatives.
On explicit orders from Biden himself, White House officials also avoided
directly attacking Johnson over the stalled aid -- a directive the president
repeatedly instilled in his senior staff.
For his part, Johnson came off to White House officials as direct and an
honest actor throughout the negotiations, according to a senior administration
official. Biden had success finding common ground with Republicans earlier in
his term to win the passage of a $1 trillion infrastructure deal, legislation
to boost the U.S. semiconductor industry, and an expansion of federal health
care services for veterans exposed to toxic smoke from burn pits. And he knew
there was plenty of Republican support for further Ukraine funding.
At frustrating moments during the negotiations, Biden urged his aides to
"just keep talking, keep working," according to the official, who requested
anonymity to discuss internal discussions.
So they did. In a daily meeting convened by White House chief of staff Jeff
Zients, the president's top aides -- seated around a big oval table in Zients'
office -- would brainstorm possible ways to better make the case about
Ukraine's dire situation in the absence of aid.
Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president, and legislative affairs
director Shuwanza Goff were in regular contact with Johnson. Goff and Johnson's
senior staff also spoke frequently as a deal came into focus.
The White House also sought to accommodate Johnson and his various asks. For
instance, administration officials at the speaker's request briefed Reps. Chip
Roy, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C. -- two conservatives who were persistent
antagonists of Johnson.
All the while, senior Biden officials frequently updated McConnell as well
as key Republican committee leaders, including Reps. Michael McCaul and Mike
Turner.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Biden's instincts to
resist pressuring Johnson proved correct.
"Joe Biden has a very good sense of when to heavily intervene and when to
try to shape things," Schumer said.
In public, the administration deployed a strategy of downgrading
intelligence that demonstrated Russia's efforts to tighten its ties with U.S.
adversaries China, North Korea and Iran to fortify Moscow's defense industrial
complex and get around U.S. and European sanctions.
For example, U.S. officials this month laid out intelligence findings that
showed China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and
other technology that Moscow in turn is using to produce missiles, tanks,
aircraft and other weaponry. Earlier, the White House publicized intelligence
that Russia has acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea and has acquired
attack drones from Iran.
The $61 billion can help triage Ukrainian forces, but Kyiv will need much
more for a fight that could last years, military experts say.
Realistic goals for the months ahead for Ukraine -- and its allies --
include avoiding the loss of major cities, slowing Russia's momentum and
getting additional weaponry to Kyiv that could help them go on the offensive in
2025, said Bradley Bowman, a defense strategy and policy analyst at the
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington.
"In our microwave culture, we tend to want immediate results," Bowman said.
"And sometimes things are just hard and you can't get immediate results. I
think Ukrainian success is not guaranteed, but Russian success is if we stop
supporting Ukraine."
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