During their recent visit to Kyiv, United States Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) made news with pledges to bolster US support for Ukraine, including by telling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that “we’re going to fight for another supplemental [aid package] before the end of the calendar year.”
After the last slog for supplemental assistance to Ukraine ended in April 2024, any new package is likely to face a far smoother path through Congress thanks to more political cover for congressional Republicans and increasing public support for aid. But having to debate whether the United States should help Ukraine each year isn’t sustainable. Instead, it’s time the United States matched its allies by passing meaningful long-term support for Ukraine. If executed properly, the Blumenthal-Graham proposal could soon make that a reality.
Talk of another supplemental aid package may seem surprising to some. A $61 billion package was passed just a few months ago, after all. But that package was never meant to last long. The Biden administration originally asked in August 2023 for a short-term supplemental to cover the rest of the year, with the expectation of more substantial aid coming in early 2024.
But the White House misjudged Capitol Hill, and the issue became subject to extended delays. The updated supplemental aid request that came from the White House in October 2023, almost identical to the package that eventually passed in April 2024, was instead designed to provide for military assistance to Ukraine until just after the November 2024 elections.
While the April 2024 supplemental is billed as a $61 billion package, the majority of that figure is comprised of long-term funding for defense production in the US and financial assistance to Ukraine. Only $7.8 billion was appropriated for Presidential Drawdown Authority, the primary mechanism used by the United States to send weapons to Ukraine. If the president doesn’t use it all, it could soon expire on September 30 without a notice of extension by the secretary of state.
