The White House said Thursday it can no longer assure Ukraine that the U.S. will provide more security aid, given the deadlock in negotiations with Congress.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said he could not speak to how Kyiv views the unfolding talks over President Biden’s security package, which would fund Ukraine, Israel and border initiatives. But he does know the well is about to run dry, even as Ukrainian forces try to hold off Russian invaders.
“We’ve got a few more weeks here, and then we’re out of Schlitz when it comes to helping Ukraine with the kind of security assistance that we’ve been able to provide. That should be unacceptable to everybody,” Mr. Kirby said, leveraging a decades-old beer marketing campaign that proclaimed, “when you’re out of Schlitz, you’re out of beer.”
Mr. Biden has asked Congress for $106 billion for national security needs, including aiding both Ukraine and Israel, which are mired in wars.
The U.S. already has sent $111 billion to Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022.
Republicans on Capitol Hill are weary of all the billions the U.S. has sent overseas, and are demanding substantial changes to U.S. border policy as a condition of voting for the measure.
Senate Republicans voted late Wednesday to block Mr. Biden’s request from moving forward as they dig in on their demands.
“It is profoundly unserious to pretend that national security priorities don’t include securing our nation’s borders,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, said Thursday.
Mr. Kirby rejected any suggestion it was a mistake for Mr. Biden to link foreign aid with border measures, perhaps opening the door to GOP demands.
“We know that there’s strong bipartisan support up there, it’s just that there are a small number of Republicans that want to hold that aid hostage for some pretty extreme border policies that the president is not willing to talk about,” Mr. Kirby said. “That said, he did say we’re willing to negotiate in good faith.”
• Jeff Mordock contributed to this report.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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