President Joe Biden\u2019s budget director warned Monday that the U.S. would run completely out of resources to assist Ukraine by the end of the calendar year, as the White House looks to ratchet up pressure on lawmakers to pass an emergency funding package.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment,\u201d Shalanda Young, who leads the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in a letter to congressional leaders. \u201cWe are out of money \u2014 and nearly out of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
A failure to act, Young warned, would \u201ckneecap Ukraine on the battlefield, not only putting at risk the gains Ukraine has made, but increasing the likelihood of Russian military victories.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ukraine assistance has become a flashpoint on Capitol Hill, with new House Speaker Mike Johnson insisting that additional aid is contingent on immigration policy changes. The White House is seeking over $61 billion for Ukraine aid as part of a roughly $105 billion package that would also include funding for Israel\u2019s war against Hamas, U.S. allies in the Pacific and money to house and process undocumented immigrants along the border with Mexico.<\/p>\n
Republicans are hoping the Ukraine funding fight can provide leverage as they seek to tighten access to asylum for those entering the U.S. But negotiations on a sweeping immigration agreement are yet to yield results, with the Senate expected to depart for the Christmas holiday on Dec. 15.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to take the administration coming to the table and recognizing that their policy needs to change,\u201d House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican, said Sunday on CBS News\u2019s \u201cFace the Nation.\u201d \u201cAmerica overwhelmingly wants the southern border addressed. It represents a national security threat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senator James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican involved in the negotiations, said Sunday he still believed it was possible to get a deal on immigration and foreign aid \u201cdone by the end of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople want a legal, orderly process, not the chaos that we currently have on our southern border \u2014 that shouldn\u2019t be too tall of an order to be able to fulfill,\u201d Lankford said in an interview on ABC News\u2019s \u201cThis Week.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the push is further complicated by other pressing business on Capitol Hill, including reauthorization of legislation allowing the warrantless collection of communications of non-Americans, as well as the annual defense authorization legislation. And the White House is eager to settle the funding issue before January, when it could bleed into the latest round of fighting over government funding.<\/p>\n
In the interim, both Ukraine and the Biden Administration are looking to publicly highlight the impact of a funding lapse. <\/p>\n
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country\u2019s counteroffensive did not achieve its desired goals because allies had not provided hoped-for weapons.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the case of Ukraine, if resilience fails today due to lack of aid and shortages of weapons and funding, it will mean that Russia will most likely invade NATO countries,\u201d Zelenskiy said in an interview this week with the Associated Press. \u201cAnd then the American children will fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The White House also argued that the funding would help boost the U.S. industrial base, because old weapons systems would be shipped to Ukraine and replaced by new items built in the United States. Budget director Young estimated that nearly half of the president\u2019s emergency request would be funneled into manufacturing in the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we cannot predict exactly which U.S. companies will be awarded new contracts, we do know the funding will be used to acquire advanced capabilities to defend against attacks on civilians in Israel and Ukraine \u2014 for example, air defense systems built in Alabama, Texas, and Georgia, and vital subcomponents sourced from nearly all 50 states,\u201d Young said. <\/p>\n
The administration is expected to further brief lawmakers this week on the consequences of not renewing the funding by the end of the year.<\/p>\n
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