House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Wednesday rejected a request from President Biden to include additional spending for the proxy war in Ukraine as part of a continuing resolution Congress is expected to pass before the end of the year.
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget asked Congress for an additional $24 billion, which included $8 billion in funds to purchase weapons for Ukraine and $16 billion to replace US military equipment that’s been sent to Ukraine.
Johnson, who advanced a $61 billion spending bill for Ukraine earlier this year, said any additional spending on the war would be up to President-elect Donald Trump.
“As we predicted and as I said to all of you, weeks before the election, if Donald Trump is elected it will change the dynamic of the Russian war on Ukraine, and we’re seeing that happen,” Johnson told reporters, according to The Hill.
“So, it is not the place of Joe Biden to make that decision now, we have a newly elected president and we’re going to wait and take the new commander in chief’s direction on all that so I don’t expect any Ukraine funding to come up now,” he added.
Trump campaigned on ending the proxy war but it remains a question how he will do that. Trump’s pick to be the envoy to the conflict, Keith Kellog, is a Russia hawk who previously criticized President Biden for not doing enough for Ukraine. He has also suggested conditioning future aid to Ukraine on the condition that Kyiv enter negotiations.
Source: AntiWar.
