With Trump in the ascendant, even Ukraine’s allies in Congress rethink aid

WASHINGTON – When US President Joe Biden made a last-minute request to Congress recently that lawmakers include an extra US$24 billion (S$32.4 billion) in military aid for Ukraine in their year-end spending package, it received little attention and no serious consideration from members of either party.

That was partly because Ukraine had yet to spend the last multibillion-dollar infusion lawmakers approved early in 2024 to back the country in its war with Russia.

But the chilly reception also reflected how reality has set in on Capitol Hill that the election of Donald Trump has effectively brought the era of US military support to Ukraine to an end.

The US President-elect has made no secret of his animus towards Ukraine and the nearly US$175 billion the US has invested in its fight against Russia.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed Mr Biden’s Thanksgiving-week request by noting that the question of how – and whether – to continue helping Ukraine was no longer up to him.

“It is not the place of Joe Biden to make that decision,” Mr Johnson said, adding that the Republicans would wait for direction from Trump when it came to Ukraine.

While a bipartisan consensus has long existed in Congress for supporting Ukraine in its struggle against Russia, a majority of House Republicans have opposed sending military aid for more than a year.

And in the weeks since Trump’s election, several of the staunchest Republican boosters of providing funding for Ukraine’s war have markedly changed their tune to match his, even as they continue to speak about the importance of supporting the country itself.

Instead, they have said that it is in the interest of both Ukraine and the US to end the war, instead of continuing to issue cheques that might prolong it.

“I don’t see any appetite for that,” said Senator John Cornyn, who in the past has been one of the most resolute Republican voices proclaiming a moral imperative for continuing to support Ukraine, adding: “I’m hopeful that President Trump can help bring that to some sort of resolution.”

The shift is notable, considering that just a few months ago, a strong bipartisan majority in Congress voted to approve more than US$60 billion in military assistance for Ukraine, over the opposition of Trump and his supporters.

Now, there is diminishing enthusiasm among Republicans for funding weapons packages that Trump does not appear interested in sending.

Mr Biden’s recent request for more aid, seen as a desperate bid to lock in funds for Ukraine before Trump takes office, was arguably premature.

Since Congress began directing special funding towards the war in early 2022, lawmakers have regularly waited until resources are nearly depleted to appropriate the next tranche.

The administration has about US$16 billion of Ukraine assistance remaining, including about US$5.6 billion worth of authority to send weapons from existing stockpiles and US$1.2 billion for material purchases over the longer term.

When Trump takes office, he is expected to inherit control over several billion dollars’ worth of unused Ukraine aid.

Some Republicans have seized on that cushion as a reason to avoid broaching any difficult conversations about Ukraine’s future reliance on US assistance, in the hope that by the time such debates become necessary, they are moot.

“We shouldn’t be running out of funding in the immediate future,” said Representative Tom Cole, who chairs the Appropriations Committee. “So there’ll be time, hopefully, to work this out.”

But it is not clear that continued funding is being contemplated as part of the long-term solution.

Historically pro-Ukraine figures in Trump’s close circle of advisers, such as Senator Lindsey Graham, have been distancing themselves from the idea of pushing for more military aid, touting Trump’s proposal to offer loans instead as a reasonable alternative.

“I think now is the time to put on the table constructive, creative solutions to end this war,” Mr Graham said when asked whether he would continue to support sending Ukraine tens of billions of dollars, as he had previously.

And since Trump’s win, the ultra conservative wing of the party has only been emboldened in its demands to ice Ukraine out of US funding altogether – meaning the political price of promoting war aid is getting steeper.

In that environment, the cadre of Republican lawmakers still openly making the case for Ukraine aid is growing noticeably thinner.

In the Senate, Mr Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the party’s outgoing leader, and Ms Susan Collins of Maine, who is set to become chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, are expected to continue pressing to supply Ukraine with the financial and military assistance it needs to continue the war.

But it is unclear how many others will heed their exhortations to hold the line against Trump’s efforts to disengage. NYTIMES