US House of Representatives introduces bill with less aid for Ukraine

Eight members of the US House of Representatives from the Republican and Democratic parties presented a proposal on Friday (16 February) to allocate US$66.3 billion in military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in an attempt to break the deadlock on the issue.

Source: European Pravda, citing Politico

Details: The move was initiated by the co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, and is a scaled-down version of the US$95 billion aid package passed by the Senate this week.

The House counterproposal removes tens of billions of dollars in humanitarian and economic aid for Ukraine and Gaza included in the Senate bill and retains the military portion of the Senate package.

The bipartisan bill also includes provisions to increase border security in an effort to win over Republicans who disapprove of providing aid to Ukraine without strengthening US borders.

The bill provides US$47.7 billion in support for Ukraine. This amount includes US$13.8 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, under which the Pentagon will sign contracts with US defence companies to provide Kyiv with new weapons and equipment.

Another US$13.4 billion will be allocated to the Pentagon to replace weapons sent to Ukraine from US military stockpiles.

Unlike this draft, the approved Senate bill envisages additional funds for Ukraine's economic, financial, civilian, and nuclear security – $9.654 billion.

Michael McCaul, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, has criticised the bill for not including humanitarian aid to Gaza and Ukraine.

Background: This week, the US Senate voted in favour of a package bill that contains US$61 billion for Ukraine. However, the US House of Representatives went on recess until the end of February without voting on the package bill.

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