US President Joe Biden’s head budget official sounded a note of desperation in a plea for Congress to pass yet another funding package for Ukraine.
“Certainly, we’ve bypassed my comfort level,” said Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young at a breakfast event with journalists Friday morning. Although legislators sent $250 million in lethal aid to the Zelensky regime just days ago, Young insisted that wasn’t enough and urged lawmakers to pass a more substantial package, calling the situation “dire.”
Biden has limited legal authority to send weapons to Kiev without congressional approval, but he is only able to send arms from existing US stockpiles rather than devote the funding necessary to replenish them. His administration has explored that approach, but Young insisted presidential action “is not going to get big tranches of equipment into Ukraine.”
The budget chair criticized Congress’s inaction, warning that continued military support was important from a standpoint of projecting US power.
“Yes, Kiev might have a little time from other donors to make sure they can keep their war footing, keep the civil service, but what happens in the [European Union], in other NATO allies, if the US pulls out their support?” she said. “What message does that send to the rest of the world? And what will their decisions be if they see the United States not step up to the plate?”
Ukraine has consistently struggled in their conflict with Russia, with a vaunted counteroffensive last year failing to shift the balance of power in the Donbass. With Zelensky’s efforts on the battlefield failing, the Ukrainian president seems poised to continue to move the country towards collapse. Kiev has requested American assistance simply in order to continue carrying out basic government functions.
Meanwhile, Russia has performed strongly since the passage of broad Western sanctions in 2022 intended to economically damage the country.
The US president has been so eager to secure money for Ukraine that he’s even offered to concede ground to Republicans on border policy, a highly contentious issue for elements of the Democratic Party’s base. Biden continued many elements of his predecessor’s approach to the issue, even completing segments of former president Trump’s border wall.
If Ukraine is approaching ruin, the United States may not be much better off with a low-intensity political crisis still simmering since unprecedented tumult in the House of Representatives last year. Funding for Kiev is likely to be complicated by the renewed imperative to prevent a government shutdown, with a deadline for federal funding looming in less than two weeks. If Congress is unable to agree on a bill, government services will be forced to pause operations and social service payments may be delayed.
Lawmakers reportedly haven’t even begun the process of writing the necessary legislation, which requires agreeing on broad spending amounts for various federal agencies.
“I’ll take it however they can pass it,” Young said, referring to both Ukraine aid and broader government funding. “I mean, beggars shouldn’t be choosing. And I’ll take it, how they can pass it. It just needs to be passed.”