US president Joe Biden has proposed a new US$105 billion (£86.5 billion) national security aid package, including $61 billion for Ukraine.
Pleading with Congress to cast aside “petty, partisan, angry politics”, on October 20 Biden reiterated his refrain that “if we don’t stop Putin’s appetite for power and control … he won’t limit himself just to Ukraine”.
In normal “petty, partisan, angry” times, securing funding for Kiev – on top of the $76.8 billion that Washington has already sent since the war’s outbreak – would have proven onerous enough. While US support for Ukraine still receives bipartisan backing in the Senate, opposition from Republicans in the House of Representatives has, if anything, hardened.
