Blitz Bureau
A powerful U.S. Senate committee approved a military spending bill on July 31 that includes about $1 billion to support Ukraine, despite President Donald Trump’s administration having asked Congress to eliminate such funding in its budget request.
The Republican-led Senate Appropriations Committee approved $852 billion for the Department of Defence in the fiscal year ending on September 30, 2026, which is $21.7 billion, or 2.6%, more than the Republican President requested earlier this year. The committee voted 26-3 to send the spending measure for a vote in the full Senate, with strong support from both Democrats and Trump’s fellow Republicans.
“Not only the prior administration, but this administration as well, have underestimated the level of challenge that we have,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who chairs the panel’s defence subcommittee. The bill includes $800 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), and $225 million for the Baltic Security Initiative, much of which ends up supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia’s invasion.
“I would say support for Ukraine is a billion dollars,” Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, the defence spending subcommittee’s top Democrat, told reporters at a briefing ahead of the Appropriations Committee meeting. Trump’s budget request, and the defence appropriations bill passed by the House of Representatives earlier this year, did not include any funding for the USAI, under which the U.S. provides funds for purchases of equipment for Ukraine.
However, many Republicans in Congress, particularly in the Senate, backed support for Ukraine even before Russia launched its full-scale invasion in early 2022. Some have expressed frustration with Trump’s administration for deciding repeatedly to halt shipments of weapons for Ukraine, and failing to brief members of Congress who authorized the shipments. Senate aides from both parties said they had asked the administration for an accounting of which weapons were being sent, now that shipments have resumed, but had not received the information.
