US weighing linking Ukraine, Israel aid- NBC News
The White House and American lawmakers in Congress are discussing whether aid to Israel could be linked to more funding for Ukraine as a strategy to pass both spending priorities, NBC News reported, citing unnamed sources.
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Lawmakers in both parties who support additional aid for Ukraine believe the approach could potentially help secure funding for Kyiv despite opposition from some Republican members in the House and the Senate.
The idea is that, while a group of House conservatives "steadfastly opposes new funding for Ukraine", which the White House has requested, additional aid for Israel in the wake of Hamas’ brutal attack on Israelis is less likely to face such a struggle in Congress, NBC News reports.
The National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, John Kirby, said Monday, that the US is "a large enough, big enough, economically viable and vibrant enough country to be able to support both" Ukraine and Israel.
The timing of any effort to link Ukraine and Israel funding, should such a strategy play out, is unclear, as Congress, with no House speaker at the moment, faces a mid-November deadline to fund the federal government.
The US is by far the largest donor of military and financial support for Ukraine, having provided approximately USD 45 billion in military equipment since Russia’s full-scale invasion last February.
The Pentagon has warned it is running out of money to plan for further donations, with only USD 1.6 billion left of the USD 25.9 billion Congress provided to replenish US military stocks that have been flowing to Ukraine.
