Senators on Wednesday signaled interest in using Ukraine-focused supplemental spending bills as a mechanism to secure defense spending outside of strict caps that would be imposed by a debt limit compromise deal.
The caps would restrain defense spending in fiscal 2024 to $886 billion, the level proposed by President Joe Biden — a roughly 3 percent increase from current levels. In fiscal 2025, the cap would be $895 billion, a 1 percent increase from fiscal 2024.
But Ukraine aid, if classified as emergency funding, could not count toward those limits, providing lawmakers with an outside avenue for military spending. Congress has appropriated supplemental funds for Ukraine before, including a measure Biden signed into law in May 2022.
