Follow us on social

Screen-shot-2022-11-15-at-4.02.45-pm

Biden wants $37B more for Ukraine, setting up lame-duck fight

Conservatives say they will fight to prevent aid debate until new House majority takes over in the new year.

Europe

The White House requested an additional $37.7 billion in aid for Ukraine Tuesday, with more than half of the aid going toward arms transfers and restocking U.S. weapons stockpiles. If fulfilled, the request would more than double the total security aid that Washington has provided to Kyiv since Russia’s invasion in February.

The request sets the Biden administration up for a battle with conservative groups, several of which signed on to a recent letter that called on Washington to allow the newly elected Congress to be seated before lawmakers consider further funding for Ukraine.

“Proponents want to move before new majorities in either the House or Senate have an opportunity to weigh in on America’s Ukraine policy on behalf of increasingly skeptical constituents,” wrote the signatories, which included the Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, Defense Priorities, and Concerned Veterans for America. 

“Pushing through another aid package during this Congress’ lame-duck session with little debate or consideration for the will of the American people would disregard legislators’ responsibilities to U.S. interests,” they continued, arguing that such a move "flouts the will of American voters.”

The move could also see pushback in Congress: Conservative lawmakers like Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) opposed the decision to include Ukraine aid in a government funding resolution back in September, and others, including incoming House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, have questioned whether Kyiv should get a “blank check” from Washington.

Ukraine’s supporters in Congress have advocated for passing a lame-duck bill in order to assuage fears that a Republican-led House would be able to block future aid. Given the razor-thin majority that the GOP is expected to hold and the broad support for Ukraine among lawmakers, it is unclear whether these concerns are likely to turn into a reality.

If passed, the additional funds would increase the total assistance that Congress has authorized this year to over $100 billion, more than three times the amount that the U.S. is expected to spend annually on President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. 

Congress will likely take up the request in the coming weeks as it seeks to pass a spending bill that will keep the government funded past mid-December, when the current round of funding is set to expire.

It is unclear if a future aid package would include greater oversight for arms sent to Ukraine, which advocates and even Ukrainian officials have called for in recent months.


House GOP leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)and President Joe Biden (Michael F. Hiatt / Shutterstock)
Europe
Trump and Keith Kellogg
Top photo credit: U.S. President Donald Trump and Keith Kellogg (now Trump's Ukraine envoy) in 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Trump's silence on loss of Ukraine lithium territory speaks volumes

Europe

Last week, Russian military forces seized a valuable lithium field in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, the latest success of Moscow’s grinding summer offensive.

The lithium deposit in question is considered rather small by industry analysts, but is said to be a desirable prize nonetheless due to the concentration and high-quality of its ore. In other words, it is just the kind of asset that the Trump administration seemed eager to exploit when it signed its much heralded minerals agreement with Ukraine earlier this year.

keep readingShow less
Is the US now funding the bloodbath at Gaza aid centers?
Top photo credit: Palestinians walk to collect aid supplies from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled/File Photo

Is the US now funding the bloodbath at Gaza aid centers?

Middle East

Many human rights organizations say it should shut down. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have killed hundreds of Palestinians at or around its aid centers. And yet, the U.S. has committed no less than $30 million toward the controversial, Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

As famine-like conditions grip Gaza, the GHF says it has given over 50 million meals to Palestinians at its four aid centers in central and southern Gaza Strip since late May. These centers are operated by armed U.S. private contractors, and secured by IDF forces present at or near them.

keep readingShow less
mali
Heads of state of Mali, Assimi Goita, Niger, General Abdourahamane Tiani and Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traore, pose for photographs during the first ordinary summit of heads of state and governments of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in Niamey, Niger July 6, 2024. REUTERS/Mahamadou Hamidou//File Photo

Post-coup juntas across the Sahel face serious crises

Africa

In Mali, General Assimi Goïta, who took power in a 2020 coup, now plans to remain in power through at least the end of this decade, as do his counterparts in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. As long-ruling juntas consolidate power in national capitals, much of the Sahelian terrain remains out of government control.

Recent attacks on government security forces in Djibo (Burkina Faso), Timbuktu (Mali), and Eknewane (Niger) have all underscored the depth of the insecurity. The Sahelian governments face a powerful threat from jihadist forces in two organizations, Jama‘at Nusrat al-Islam wa-l-Muslimin (the Group for Supporting Islam and Muslims, JNIM, which is part of al-Qaida) and the Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP). The Sahelian governments also face conventional rebel challengers and interact, sometimes in cooperation and sometimes in tension, with various vigilantes and community-based armed groups.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.