WASHINGTON – As Congress mulls President Biden’s request for $75.7 billion to send additional weapons to Ukraine and Israel, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that he does not believe either nation can win their respective wars. without American help.
“My assessment is that if the United States does not continue to support Ukraine, they will not succeed,” Austin said, adding that Israel would also not succeed in eliminating Hamas in the Gaza Strip without US help.
Austin made the remarks at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, where he and Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed lawmakers to support the diplomatic and defense portion of Biden’s $107 billion supplemental funding request. to Congress on October 20.
The White House request includes $61.4 billion for Ukraine and $14.3 billion for Israel.
It also includes approximately $10 billion for humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that he does not believe either nation can win their respective wars without American help.ZUMAPRESS.com
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The remaining funds are intended to address the crisis at the United States’ southern border.
While the Biden administration wants the entire package to pass together, House Republicans want aid for Ukraine, Israel and the border to be split into separate bills as support for Kiev wanes among some. republicans.
Earlier this month, the head of NATO’s Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, the alliance’s top military officer, said that when it comes to Western munitions in Ukraine, “the bottom of the barrel is now visible.”
“My assessment is that if the United States does not continue to support Ukraine, they will not succeed,” Austin said, adding that Israel would also not be able to eliminate Hamas in the Gaza Strip without US help.HANNIBAL HANSCHKE/EPA-EFE/ Shutterstock
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As of Tuesday, the United States had about $5.4 billion left to send weapons and military equipment from the Defense Department’s arsenal to Ukraine, Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters.
The new $61.4 billion request for Ukraine includes $12 billion to buy key new weapons; $18 billion to replenish US military arsenal equipment that had been delivered to kyiv; $10.7 billion for “cybersecurity and intelligence support,” as well as to maintain the “enhanced presence of U.S. personnel deployed in Europe” since the war began, Austin said.
So far, support for Israel comes from the $3.3 billion the United States sends annually in military aid as part of a ten-year memorandum of understanding signed in 2018.
Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have been pressing lawmakers to support the diplomatic and defense portion of Biden’s $107 billion supplemental funding request submitted to Congress last week.ZUMAPRESS.com
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That support has included air defense capabilities, precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs and interceptors for the country’s vitally important Iron Dome system sent “at the speed of war,” Austin said.
But as the United States increases its security assistance to the Jewish state in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, defense officials say the country will need more than the annual funding to successfully wage war.
Israel’s request includes “$5.2 billion to help Israel increase the capability of its Iron Dome and other air defense systems,” as well as $4.4 billion to replenish the Pentagon’s weapons stockpile provided to Israel and 1,000 millions of dollars “to increase our own capacity to produce weapons.” critical munitions, especially 155 millimeter artillery,” Austin said.
While the Biden administration wants the entire package to pass together, House Republicans want aid for Ukraine, Israel and the border to be split into separate bills as support for Kiev wanes among some. republicans.Getty Images
War between Israel and Hamas: how we got here
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip more than three decades after seizing the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: The terrorist group Hamas wins the Palestinian legislative elections.
2007: Hamas takes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launches a military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fire rockets at the city of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches the biggest attack on Israel in 50 years, in an early morning ambush on October 7, firing thousands of rockets and sending dozens of militants into Israeli cities.
The terrorists killed more than 1,400 Israelis, wounded more than 4,200 and took at least 200 hostage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to announce: “We are at war” and promised that Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”
Health officials in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, report that at least 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,500 wounded since the war began.
Additionally, Ryder said the United States has sent Israel “precision-guided munitions,” but declined to list any other military equipment sent, citing security concerns.
If Congress agrees to provide the requested funds, it is unclear how quickly military assistance could be sent, as the U.S. defense industrial base has struggled to keep up with demand caused by the Ukraine war while maintaining its own army supplied with sufficient weapons and equipment.
“If we just had to turn to ourselves (we would be producing enough), but we’re at a point where we’re providing resources to allies and partners like Ukraine, and it’s going to require more,” Austin said.
To help address that need, DOD is also requesting “$3.7 billion to expand manufacturing capacity across our industrial base” as part of the package, he added.
“These investments will also significantly improve our production capabilities in the future and help ensure we are prepared to meet security challenges around the world.”
Austin added that approximately $50 billion of the request would “flow through our defense industrial base, sending aid to our partners while creating good American jobs in more than 30 states.”
“When we send our friends ammunition from our reserves, the money to replenish our supplies strengthens our military readiness, and we invest in American industry and American workers.”
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