War in Ukraine: no agreement on assistance to Kyiv in sight in the US Congress

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote on Friday that as it stands, any vote on new aid funding for Ukraine, as well as on strengthening the border with Mexico, was “stillborn.”

The comment comes as US media reports former President and White House candidate Donald Trump is pressuring Republican elected officials to block budget requests from his rival, Democratic President Joe Biden.

“If rumors about the contents of the bill (which is currently being discussed in the Senate, the other chamber of Congress, editor’s note) are true, it will be stillborn before it even gets to the House of Representatives,” Mike Johnson assured in the letter. American congressmen.

The letter is another negative signal about the outcome of the already very difficult negotiations in the US Congress, consisting of the Senate, which now has a Democratic majority, and the House of Representatives, which is dominated by Republicans.

expansion by 100 billion

Joe Biden is calling for a budget increase of about $100 billion to meet immediate needs, most notably aid to Ukraine, for which the United States is a leading supplier of military equipment.

Under pressure from Republicans, the topic is now being linked in discussions to immigration policy, a leading theme of Donald Trump’s election campaign. The former Republican president accuses his successor of weakness in the face of migrant arrivals at the border with Mexico.

While compromise in the Senate seemed possible, that prospect abruptly receded this week, with the US press seeing it as the work of the 77-year-old tycoon, a big favorite in the Republican primaries and maintaining a strong grip on the party. . .

The latest delivery of US military aid to Ukraine was announced on December 27, and the White House has repeatedly said that without a budget extension there will be no more.