By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House asked Congress on Friday to approve $6.4 billion in aid to address the Ukraine crisis after an invasion by Russia, including $2.9 billion in security and humanitarian assistance and $3.5 billion for the Department of Defense, Biden administration and congressional aides said.
“In a recent conversation with lawmakers, the administration identified the need for additional U.S. humanitarian, security, and economic assistance to Ukraine and Central European partners due to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion,” an official from the White House Office of Management and Budget said.
Congressional aides said the administration had made the request on Friday at a briefing for staff from congressional leadership and relevant committees, including the appropriations committees that set spending.
Congress, which is controlled by President Joe Biden’s fellow Democrats, would consider the $2.9 billion in funding for the State Department and USAID as an emergency bill, with funding for the Pentagon considered later, one of the congressional aides said.
The requested funds would augment the $650 million in security assistance and $52 million in humanitarian assistance the United States has already committed to Ukraine over the past year, as well as the $1 billion sovereign loan guarantee announced last week.
A Biden administration official said the conversation around funding needs would change as the situation on the ground evolves.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; additional reporting by Andrea Shalal and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Leslie Adler)
