Kevin McCarthy, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, said on Sept. 23 he would support keeping a $300 million aid package for Ukraine in the defense funding bill, walking back a comment he made the day before.
The Republican McCarthy had previously said he would take this aid out due to opposition from Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The speaker said that he decided to keep the Ukraine aid package, recognizing that bills funding the State Department and Foreign Operations also contain aid for Ukraine and stripping out this aid was too difficult to do.
The U.S. Congress has to pass a series of bills funding the different parts of the government, which will grind to a halt otherwise.
A coalition of House conservatives broke from convention and opposed the rule for the Pentagon appropriations bill twice this week, blocking the legislation from moving forward to debate and a vote on final passage.
Greene specifically opposed the bill because of the aid to Ukraine. She has come out on numerous occasions to oppose this aid.
McCarthy claimed before the midterm elections last year that he would see that there would be a “change to how Ukraine aid is assigned.”
The $300 million would fund training, equipment, lethal assistance, logistics support, supplies and services, salaries, stipends, sustainment, and intelligence support.
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