Stalemate in U.S. Congress Over Aid Budget for Ukraine
The bipartisan U.S. Congress is divided over U.S.-Mexico border security reforms, and the Republican Party continues to boycott the Biden administration's $106 billion national security budget, which includes aid for Ukraine, leading to the unilateral cancellation of Ukrainian President Zelens' scheduled video address to the U.S. Senate on the 5th.
The U.S. Congress was expected to vote on the Biden administration's $106 billion national security budget, which includes $61 billion in arms purchases from U.S. contractors to aid Ukraine, $14.3 billion in support of Israel, and loan assistance for Taiwan and U.S.-Mexico border security. Zelensky was scheduled to speak to the U.S. Senate via Zoom on the afternoon of May 5, in addition to reporting on the progress of the Ukraine-Russia war and urging the U.S. Congress to support the bill, but after U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson stated that if the two parties could not come to a consensus on the issue of border security, he would not support the passage of the bill. After the news broke, Zelensky abruptly and unilaterally canceled the meeting at the last minute.
The White House had strongly warned that without further military and economic support from the U.S., Ukraine would face a stagnation of the war; U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also emphasized that if Pootin remained in power, democracy would fail, and responded to Zelensky's cancellation of the meeting by saying that it was due to some last-minute circumstances, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also emphasized that if Congress failed to pass funding for Ukraine, the U.S. would be held accountable for the defeat of the Ukrainian war.
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