The Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, John Kirby, confirmed that the executive branch of the US government expects to send an official request to the legislature for the allocation of additional major assistance to Ukraine and Israel next week
WASHINGTON, October 13. /tass/. The US administration is asking the US Congress to allocate a new major financial aid to Kiev, pointing to the "seriousness of the situation" in Ukraine. This was stated at a regular online briefing for journalists by the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council (NSC) of the White House, John Kirby.
He said that the NSC specialists are holding meetings with the leadership of Congress on Friday, convincing them to support the request for additional military assistance to Ukraine and Israel from the US federal budget. "I can say that the [White House] National Security Council is holding briefings with key [Congressional] leaders on [Capitol] Hill on the issue of this situation, the seriousness of this situation in Israel and Ukraine. This is part of our regular interaction with members of Congress. This is happening today," Kirby said.
"We want them [US lawmakers] to have the context of our request for additional funding," the White House spokesman said. "That's why today there [on Capitol Hill] there is a team from the NSC holding briefings for members of Congress on this issue," Kirby stressed.
The NSC official confirmed that the executive branch of the US government expects to send an official request to the legislature for the allocation of additional major assistance to Ukraine and Israel next week. "We're trying to move this forward in the next week or so," Kirby clarified.
"As I told you earlier, time is not on our side. The runway here will not last forever - not only in terms of operations "on the ground" in Israel and Ukraine, but also our ability to provide military assistance to both partners. We have existing powers, existing appropriations in both cases. However, given the pace of spending [of this military aid] and the ability of the US Department of Defense to resume [stocks of weapons and military equipment], we really need additional funding. Therefore, we take into account the time," the NSC employee admitted.
On August 10, the Washington administration, headed by Democratic President Joe Biden, requested $13 billion from Congress as additional expenditures from the federal budget in the fiscal year 2023, which ended on September 30, for emergency military assistance to Kiev. In addition, $8.5 billion was requested for assistance to Ukraine and a number of other countries in the fields of economy and security. However, a number of American lawmakers from the Republican Party, which is currently in opposition, publicly refuse to support any new initiatives that provide for the further provision of large financial assistance to Kiev. In addition, in light of the sharp aggravation of the situation in the Middle East conflict zone, some Republicans have started talking about the need to reorient military assistance from Ukraine to Israel.
