«Plan A»
It is worth recalling that the US Senate, during a late-night session on February 13, supported a bill providing assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan in the amount of $95 billion, with $60 billion allocated to Kyiv.
Now the bill must be approved by the House of Representatives of the US Congress, where the majority belongs to the Republicans. Many of them are oriented towards former President Donald Trump, who has been critical of this bill. US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, also a Trump supporter, demonstratively sent the House of Representatives on vacation on February 16.
On February 27, US President Joe Biden met with congressional leaders at the White House again. During the negotiations, Biden warned lawmakers about the «terrible price» of delaying military assistance to Ukraine.
The vacation of the House of Representatives ended on February 28, and now congressmen have returned to work. It is worth noting that on this day, speakers of parliaments from 23 countries and the head of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, appealed to Speaker Mike Johnson to bring the bill on assistance to Ukraine to consideration.
In response, Johnson stated that the question of providing assistance to Ukraine would be considered after the funding of the US government is continued.
«The House of Representatives is considering all available options. And we will return to this once the government is funded,» the speaker replied.
It is worth noting that the US Senate on February 29, after the House of Representatives, passed a bill on temporary government funding just a day before the expiration of the deadline for state funding, The Hill reported.
Therefore, Americans have avoided a shutdown, government funding has been extended, but assistance to Ukraine is not being discussed again.
«Plan B»
As reported by The New York Times, citing informed officials, the US President’s administration is currently considering the possibility of providing urgent military aid to Ukraine from the US army’s own reserves. This plan is currently «on the table» at the White House.
It is reported that the Pentagon currently has the authority to provide Ukraine with weapons from its own reserves totaling about $4 billion. According to officials, this step would be a temporary measure to help the Ukrainian armed forces until Congress emerges from a months-long deadlock and approves a larger package of military assistance to Ukraine.
