Consent despite congressional chaos?
US government pledges military aid to Ukraine and Israel
October 15, 2023, 8:44 p.m
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The US House of Representatives is currently unable to act due to the current blockade. A package is still to be presented to MPs next week: It provides significantly more money for military aid for Ukraine and Israel. How it gets through Congress, however, is unclear.
Despite the factual blockade by Congress, the US government wants to request significantly more money for military aid to Israel and Ukraine. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on US television that a corresponding package should be presented to MPs later this week.
It will be “significantly larger” than the $2 billion that has been reported so far, Sullivan told CBS. The package will contain the necessary military equipment so that Ukraine can defend its “freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity.” At the same time, Israel will be supported in the fight against the “terrorist threat”.
How the package will get through Congress in the coming days is unclear. The House of Representatives is effectively unable to act after an internal Republican power struggle. A new candidate was chosen for the powerful post of president of the chamber on Friday. It was initially unclear whether he would be able to gather a majority behind him in the entire House of Representatives. The Republicans only have a comparatively small majority in the chamber. This gives a group of ultra-conservative MPs the opportunity to make their demands heard.
The chamber’s Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, announced during a visit to Israel that the Senate would quickly develop and submit its own draft. However, laws in the United States must be passed by Congress as a whole in identical form. In addition, Republican MPs in particular have expressed fundamental resistance to combining aid for Israel and Ukraine in one package. They question the current form of US aid to the government in Kiev.
Biden: We can and must support Ukraine and Israel
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has also assured that America can provide military support to both Ukraine and Israel. “We are the United States of America, for God’s sake, the most powerful nation (…) in the history of the world,” Biden said in an interview with CBS.
The US government could take care of both and still maintain the capabilities for the general defense of its own country. “We have the opportunity to do this. We have an obligation,” he emphasized. “And if we don’t do it, who will?” The conversation was recorded on Friday and was scheduled to be broadcast in full on Sunday evening (local time).