The US House of Representatives rejected two amendments to cut aid to Ukraine

The US House of Representatives rejected two amendments to reduce military aid to Ukraine to the country’s draft defense budget for the next fiscal year, which begins on October 1. Broadcast of the meeting was walking on C-SPAN.

The author of the first initiative was Congressman Matt Gaetz (Republican from Florida). He proposed to completely stop allocating funds from the budget for military assistance to Kyiv. This amendment was supported by 93 members of the lower house of Congress, while 339 people were against it. As a result, the proposal was not accepted.

The House of Representatives also rejected an amendment by Congressman Andy Biggs (R-Arizona), which would have excluded from the draft defense budget the clause on the allocation of $300 million in assistance to Kyiv as part of the Security Assistance Initiative. The initiative was rejected by 330 legislators, including 117 Republicans, and supported by 104 members of the Republican Party.

There are 435 congressmen in the US House of Representatives. Now it is controlled by the Republicans.

In July the US Senate approved a proposed $886 billion defense budget for fiscal year 2024. The draft budget calls for a 5.2% increase in defense spending, as well as $9.1 billion for various measures aimed at increasing competitiveness with China, and $300 million for Ukraine.

Russian authorities have repeatedly criticized military assistance to Ukraine and pointed to the growing direct and indirect involvement of Western countries in the conflict. In September 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Russian army in Ukraine was confronting “virtually the entire military machine of the collective West.”