Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the US politics & policy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Senate Republicans rejected a proposal to increase funding for Ukraine on Wednesday, prompting Democrats to push for another aid bill while President Joe Biden warned that lawmakers risked abandoning Kyiv at a crucial moment. The $118bn bipartisan spending bill was tied to support for Kyiv and a crackdown on immigration at the US-Mexico border, but it failed after Republicans withdrew their support following criticism from Donald Trump.This failure prompted Democrats to make a salvage effort, with Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer presenting a “Plan B” to preserve funding for Ukraine — raising hopes that additional US support for Ukraine could still be approved.Schumer’s new proposal eliminates border measures but keeps $60bn of funding for Ukraine, as well as support for Israel and Taiwan, and billions of dollars in humanitarian aid for Gaza and other regions. However, it was uncertain whether the revised bill would gain enough support to pass the upper chamber of Congress late Wednesday.The Senate voted 58-41 to clear one of several legislative hurdles to consider Schumer’s revised proposal on Wednesday afternoon, with eight Republican senators supporting the plan. The bill will require 60 votes to move forward.Schumer stated that the Senate would adjourn on Wednesday night “to give our Republican colleagues the night to figure themselves out” and reconvene for the next vote on Thursday afternoon. The potential breakthrough on Ukraine funding would be welcomed in Europe, where there is increasing concern among US allies about a potential halt in US funding for Kyiv’s efforts to reclaim territory seized by Russia and withstand further attacks.Addressing donors at a fundraiser in New York on Wednesday, Biden remarked that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “on the balls of his heels”. He questioned the consequences of the US stepping back, emphasizing the US as the “essential nation” and the impact of its absence on events in the Middle East, the Taiwan Strait, Asia, and Ukraine.Even if the Senate approves Schumer’s alternative plan, Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson — an ally of Trump — would need to agree to hold a vote in the lower chamber. He refrained from expressing his opinion on Schumer’s proposal on Wednesday morning.“We will see what the Senate does,” he told reporters. “We are allowing the process to play out, and we will handle it as it is sent over [from the Senate].” “I have made very clear that you have to address these issues on their own merits, and Israel desperately needs the assistance, everybody knows that,” Johnson added.A separate proposal put forward in the House this week by Johnson to only increase aid for Israel did not pass in a vote on Tuesday night.As global attention focused on the Senate on Wednesday, the White House indicated it was not considering contingency plans to bypass Congress if it continues to block additional Ukraine funding.Recommended
“We’re focused on passing a bipartisan support package for Ukraine that will provide it with the tools and capabilities it needs to continue to defend effectively and take back territory that Russia currently occupies,” US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday in Brussels, where he met Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg.“At the end of the day, there is no alternative to the United States stepping up to the plate and providing a level of resources that allow Ukraine to have the artillery, the air defence systems and the other capabilities they need,” Sullivan added.Stoltenberg reiterated the importance of support from Nato, including the US, to help Ukraine take back territory and demonstrate Russia made a strategic mistake in invading.“We are focusing on Plan A, and that is that all allies continue to support Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said. “I expect the US to make decisions in the future to continue to support Ukraine.”
