Democrats are moving to quickly approve nearly $40 billion in new aid to Ukraine, which will not be tied to a stalled coronavirus package.
Democrats are proposing nearly $40 billion in new assistance, above the roughly $33 billion requested by the Biden administration. The additional funding from Congress would include an additional $3.4 billion for military and humanitarian assistance on top of the money requested by the White House, two sources confirmed to The Hill.
The proposal could be on the House floor as soon as Tuesday, a source told The Hill. Whether it could also pass the Senate by the end of the week depends on whether the 100 senators were able to reach a time agreement and when the House sends the legislation.
Ukraine’s aid will not be attached to a $10 billion coronavirus assistance package, a source confirmed. That package has been stalled for weeks in the Senate as Republicans demand an amendment vote to prevent the administration from lifting a Trump-era border health policy.
Republicans noted that they had not yet signed the Democratic proposal. Democrats will need at least 10 Republican votes in the Senate if all 50 members support a package that does not include coronavirus aid.
“No agreement has been reached and discussions are ongoing,” said a spokesman for Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Democrats had considered linking the two, and the idea was supported by both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the White House. But Republicans had promised to block the Ukraine package if COVID-19 funds were attached.
“[Biden] has communicated to congressional leaders that he wants to approve aid to Ukraine first without Covid $ given opposition from the Senate GOP,” a congressional source said in a text.
The source added that the coronavirus aid would then be a separate bill and “both would originate in the House.”
Separating coronavirus funding from the Ukraine package is likely to make it easier for Congress to quickly approve aid for kyiv. But it leaves the coronavirus money with no clear path forward.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (DN.Y.) and a group of Republicans had previously reached a deal for $10 billion in coronavirus assistance. But Republicans want to add language to the coronavirus bill that would prevent the administration from lifting Title 42, a Trump-era pandemic public health policy that allows the rapid removal of migrants at the border and prevents them from seeking asylum.
Asked if separating the two would make it harder to pass coronavirus aid, Sen. Dick Durbin (Illinois), the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, said “it doesn’t help.”
“I think putting those two together would have been powerful legislation,” Durbin said.
A family source told The Hill that coronavirus aid “is now on a separate track as it would delay urgently needed funding in Ukraine.”
In a statement later Monday, President Biden said he would agree to move the two measures separately. Biden said that while he urged Congress to act on funding for COVID-19 treatments, Ukraine’s need for help was too great to put it off any longer.
“We cannot afford to delay this vital war effort. Therefore, I am prepared to accept that these two measures be moved separately, so that the Ukraine aid bill can reach my desk immediately,” Biden said.
Updated at 7 pm
Reference-thehill.com