Blinken, Austin to press for Israel, Ukraine aid in Senate testimony
President Biden’s two top foreign policy lieutenants will testify in the Senate on Tuesday on behalf of a $105 billion request to support Israel, Ukraine and other security priorities, amid uncertainty over whether congressional Republicans are willing to keep the funding taps open for Kyiv.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will face questioning from the Senate Appropriations Committee over the White House’s strategy as it seeks to bolster the defenses of both Ukraine and Israel, the closest U.S. ally in the Mideast. The hearing will be one of the first public indicators of whether Biden will be able to win congressional support for his political strategy on Ukraine — which is to request $61 billion, a major sum, in the hope that he won’t have to ask again before the 2024 elections.
Funding for defense aid for Ukraine and Israel enjoys relatively wide bipartisan backing, but a growing number of Republicans have become skeptical on help for Kyiv, leaving its approval in doubt.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has indicated he does not agree with the administration’s approach of combining Ukraine and Israel funding into a single bill. Even in the Senate, where Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been a forceful advocate for aiding Ukraine, some Republican lawmakers have demanded additional spending on border security in exchange for their greenlighting more funding for Kyiv.
“America must stand strong by our allies, dictators cannot be allowed to invade sovereign democracies, terrorism cannot be tolerated, and we cannot ignore the humanity, and the cries for help, from civilians caught in the middle of conflict and crossfire who we must protect,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) plans to tell fellow lawmakers when the hearing starts at 9:30 a.m., according to a written version of her remarks.
Both Blinken and Austin have said that supporting Ukraine and Israel is crucial to advancing U.S. foreign policy interests, with Kyiv’s ability to fend off an expansionistic Kremlin at stake and Israel facing a major security threat from Hamas following the Oct. 7 cross-border attack.
U.S. policymakers are hoping to avoid a regional war in the Mideast, in part by sending sufficient aid to Israel such that rivals — chiefly Iran — are deterred from attempting additional attacks on the country. The amount that the White House requested for Israel, $14 billion, is more than four times what the United States sent the country last year.
Ukraine’s friends and rivals in Europe have been closely watching the turmoil in Congress in recent weeks, as House Republicans deposed their speaker and then struggled to pick another one. Democrats hope to pass security assistance quickly before currents funding for Ukraine dry up, potentially within weeks.
