US House of Representatives approves funding bill without allocating money for Ukraine

The US House of Representatives has approved a two-stage temporary government funding bill without allocating money for aid to Ukraine and Israel.

Source: CNN

Details: The House passed Speaker Mike Johnson's funding bill to prevent a shutdown.

The Senate will have to approve it by Friday.

The draft bill provides for the continuation of funding for priority areas until 19 January.

The rest of the government would be funded until 2 February.

The bill does not provide for additional aid to Israel or Ukraine.

Background: 

• US President Joe Biden is trying to convince the US Congress to support aid to both Ukraine and Israel and to approve a new US$106 billion aid package, which includes more than US$61 billion in funding for aid to Ukraine. 
• But Mike Johnson, the new speaker of the US House of Representatives, insists that the aid packages for Ukraine and Israel be considered by Congress separately, and the "Ukrainian" package be considered together with appropriations for border security with Mexico.
• The White House and the Senate criticised and rejected Johnson’s draft bill on the temporary extension of funding with different terms for different government agencies.
• On 14 November, Jake Sullivan, US National Security Advisor to the president, said the US's abilities to give Ukraine "everything it needs" are shrinking every week without the approval of a new large aid package for Ukraine in Congress.

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