Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy walks with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). as he departs a meeting with senators at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 12, 2023. | Francis Chung/POLITICO
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the House of Representatives to vote to give more aid to the embattled country, after the Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill that included $60 billion for Ukraine earlier on Tuesday.
“I am grateful to every U.S. Senator who made a morally strong choice today. Such a choice matters right now, not just for Ukraine but for every nation whose independence is a target for Russian strikes, current and planned, including those planned for the coming years,” Zelenskyy said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The next step is a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. We anticipate an equally strong moral choice and a decision that will work for the benefit of our shared security,” he added.
During a visit to Washington in December, Zelenskyy met with President Joe Biden and key lawmakers to make the case for more assistance. But aid for Ukraine has repeatedly stalled in Congress due to political challenges in both chambers.
A bipartisan effort to pair foreign aid with border security money blew out after Republicans abandoned the plan earlier this month, and there has been increasing opposition to sending more money to Ukraine from some in the GOP.
Despite the political complications, Democrats and many Republicans remain supportive of sending more aid to Ukraine, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The Senate passed a major foreign aid package on Tuesday that also included funding for Israel and Taiwan, without any border provisions.
McConnell called on House Speaker Mike Johnson Tuesday to allow a vote on assistance for Ukraine — adding that he wouldn’t be “so presumptuous as to tell him how to do it.”
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