Speaker Mike Johnson dismisses Ukraine aid, awaits new presidency
Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, ruled out the possibility of the current Congress adopting a new aid package for Ukraine. This was in response to a request from President Joe Biden. Johnson announced that he would wait for directives from the new president regarding this matter.
The Speaker made this statement on Wednesday in response to a motion from the Biden administration, which called for the inclusion of $24 billion in aid for Ukraine within the negotiated budget stopgap, including $16 billion for replenishing U.S. arsenals and $8 billion for the purchase of new weapons for Kyiv.
"’I'm not planning to do that. 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 said during a press conference.
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.
Biden won't make it
President Biden announced that he would utilize the funds allocated by Congress in the last adopted aid package for Ukraine by the end of his term. As for military equipment, just under $6 billion remains. According to reports from the "Wall Street Journal" and CNN, Biden is unlikely to succeed in this, due in part to logistical difficulties and concerns about excessively depleting American arsenals.
Responding to a question about these reports, the National Security Council spokesperson did not give a direct answer but referred to a recent statement by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who reiterated that Biden instructed the administration to fully utilize the funds by the end of his presidency.
Sullivan also announced that by January 20, the U.S. would send Kyiv hundreds of thousands of artillery shells, thousands of additional rockets, and other equipment to place Ukraine in the strongest possible position before potential negotiations with Russia.
Trump wants a quick end to the war
If, despite these efforts, the administration does not manage to transfer all the equipment, the use of the remaining funds would fall to Donald Trump, who has suggested that he would urge Russia and Ukraine to quickly end the war.
His special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Gen. Keith Kellogg, advocated for the threat of stopping aid to Kyiv to force Ukrainian authorities to negotiate, or the threat of significantly increasing support to compel Vladimir Putin to do the same.
