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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday he has no immediate plans to pass legislation to boost defense spending in last week’s deal, as the fight to raise the U.S. debt ceiling reignited debate in Congress over funding Ukraine.
McCarthy’s comments could herald a tougher road ahead for Congress when President Joe Biden next demands more money for Ukraine. Before Republicans took control of the House, the House and Senate last approved $48 billion in aid to the Kiev government in December.
The money is expected to last at least until Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. Lawmakers said Biden was expected to request more funding by August or September.
The debt-ceiling agreement that Biden signed into law on Saturday caps annual national security spending at $886 billion through Sept. 30, 2024, an amount that Biden has demanded but less than that requested by defense hawks in Congress.
After some Republicans threatened to vote against the deal to cut defense spending, Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate pledged that the cap would not prevent the Senate from passing supplementary spending legislation to provide more funding for Ukraine and the Defense Department.
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However, McCarthy, who negotiated a deal with Biden, said he would not automatically allow a vote on supplemental spending legislation in the Republican-led House.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s Ukraine or anyone else,” McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol. “The idea that someone is going to add to the deal we just made is trying to sabotage it.”
Some Senate Republicans Disagree
Still, some Republican senators said they believed a supplemental spending bill was necessary.
“I’m a firm believer that we’re going to need a complement to national defense,” Sen. Susan Collins, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, told reporters.
McCarthy said he supported Ukraine and helped it defeat the Russian invasion, but needed more information before moving forward.
“I’m not giving money for the sake of giving money. I want to see what the purpose is, what is the result you want to achieve, and then show me the plan, and see if I think this plan will really work?” he said.
House Republicans want any funding for Ukraine — or other priorities — to move forward through “regular order,” as Congress debates and passes the 12 appropriations bills lawmakers will enact this summer for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 funding for government projects.
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Overall, the House and Senate have approved more than $113 billion in military and other aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022. All four tranches of aid passed with strong support from both Republicans and Democrats, though all were approved in the Democratic-controlled Senate and House of Representatives.
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