House leadership remains at a standstill on an expansive national security package, but appropriators inserted $300 million for Ukraine into the fiscal year spending bill that’s now speeding through Congress.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee and chair of the House Ukraine Caucus, said the funds were added with the full, bipartisan support of the subcommittee.
“We’re hopeful that this will provide them with a bridge until we can provide the additional support,” Kaptur said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has punted funding for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine in the weeks since the Senate passed a national security supplemental, and lawmakers remain divided on whether to adopt the Senate’s version or work on their own that could eliminate humanitarian aid or include new border security provisions.
Despite the divide on the larger supplemental, which would allocate over $60 billion for Ukraine, the subcommittee was united on including the $300 million, according to Kaptur.
“Every member of our subcommittee understands who the enemy is, every single member on both sides of the aisle,” she said.
The funds appropriated for Ukraine through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative allow the secretary of defense to allocate for “lethal assistance,” replacement of weapons, training, supplies and services, salaries and stipends, and intelligence support. The funds remain available through September 2025.
Multiple new accountability measures are also tucked into the spending bill, which would add more public reporting to how the funds are used.
No later than 60 days after the spending bill is passed, the secretary of state is required to submit to Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell the strategy for Ukraine and how U.S. assistance is being used. It must include “clear goals, benchmarks, timelines and strategic objectives” for the funding.
The bill also mandates that every 90 days, the secretary of state and the U.S. Agency for International Development follow up in a report with leaders on how they’re using the funds, “including categories and amounts, the intended results and the results achieved.”
While the provision has gotten little attention — the bill text was published early Thursday morning, and the vote is expected to be held on Friday — some conservative lawmakers have insisted they will not approve any additional funding for Ukraine. (With or without the Ukraine funding, those same conservatives have already declared they would vote no on the spending bill.)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in January went as far as to say she would introduce a motion to vacate the speakership if Johnson brought Ukraine funding forward.
Rep. Tim Burchett told NOTUS he’s strongly against the $300 million for Ukraine and said he’s “sure” Johnson will face blowback for keeping it in the final bill. But he disagrees that a motion to vacate is the way to go for conservatives.
“I think everybody realizes now if we were to kick him out, it would just turn the gavel over to Hakeem,” he said.
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Katherine Swartz is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow. Haley Byrd Wilt, a reporter at NOTUS, contributed to this report.