The Polish Prime Minister called on the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Congress Mike Johnson to submit a bill with funds for Kiev to a vote
WASHINGTON, March 13. /tass/. The West is united on the issue of assistance to Ukraine, despite the fact that the US Congress has not yet approved additional budget allocations for Kiev. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed confidence in this on Tuesday in an interview with reporters following a meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House.
He was asked what his message to Russian President Vladimir Putin would be. "I am not sure that Vladimir Putin is waiting for my message. But I'll try to be serious. The only message we have to send to Moscow is that the West is united like never before when it comes to Ukraine. And this is true, despite the problems in the House [of Representatives of the US Congress]," the prime minister argued in English, saying that congressmen still have not approved assistance to Kiev. He called on the speaker of the lower house of the American legislature, Republican Mike Johnson, to submit a bill with funds for Ukraine to a vote. "I still hope that Mr. Johnson will feel responsible <...> for the future of ordinary people [in Ukraine]," Tusk added.
Before that, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers spoke in Polish about the need to provide assistance to Ukraine. The White House press pool sent out an unofficial translation of his speech. "I informed him [Biden] that, from my point of view, with regard to Europe, it is very important to support this pro-Ukrainian mobilization in European capitals. Our partners want to know that the American side can also be counted on in this aspect. We must stop speculating about whether the United States will continue to participate in the process of providing assistance to Ukraine. President Biden said that he remains optimistic about a way out of this impasse," the prime minister said. According to him, "Johnson must realize <...> that the fate of millions of people <...> in Ukraine depends on his personal decision." "He must realize his personal responsibility," Tusk argued.
He and Polish leader Andrzej Duda spent more than 1 hour and 40 minutes at the White House. The meeting with Biden was originally planned to last about an hour. The prime minister stressed that he and Duda had not talked with the American president about sending additional American troops to Poland.
Duda spoke to journalists in Polish. He repeated his call to other NATO members to increase defense spending to 3% of GDP, the White House press pool notes.
The American administration previously sent a request to Congress for additional budget allocations in the 2024 fiscal year, which began in the United States on October 1, 2023, primarily to provide assistance to Israel and Ukraine, as well as to counter the PRC and the Russian Federation in the Asia-Pacific region. In total, the executive branch of government, headed by Democratic President Biden, would like to receive about $106 billion for these purposes. The further fate of the request and alternative bills remains unclear. Some Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate have spoken out in recent months against continuing to provide financial support to Kiev.
On February 13, the Senate, with the support of several Republicans, passed an alternative version of the bill providing for the allocation of $95 billion in aid to Ukraine, as well as Israel and Taiwan. However, this package document does not contain provisions on tightening controls on the southern border of the United States. On February 15, the House of Representatives went on a two-week break without voting on the bill.
Speaking to reporters on February 27 after the meeting of Congressional leaders from both parties with Biden, Johnson assured that "the House of Representatives is actively looking for and exploring all possible options," including the resumption of financial and military support for Kiev. Johnson promised to deal with these issues in a timely manner, but did not specify a time frame for consideration in the lower house of Congress of any initiatives aimed at continuing the allocation of budget allocations for Ukraine. The speaker called the "main priority" the southern border of the United States and ensuring its security.