U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is engaged in urgent discussions with the Congress to allow it to use up $6 billion in military aid for Ukraine before the September 30 deadline, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The effort comes at a high-risk moment for Ukrainian armed forces, who are advancing into Russia’s Kursk region while trying to hold off Russian forces threatening the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk.
The Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), a key component of a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine passed in April, allows the president to transfer defense articles and services from U.S. stocks in response to emergencies.
PDA has been the primary mechanism the Biden administration has used to ship weapons to Ukraine. Most recently, the administration announced on August 23 a new military aid package worth $125 million, including air-defense missiles, counter-drone equipment, anti-armor missiles and ammunition.
However, most of the $7.8 billion in PDA in the bill Biden signed into law in April has not been used, leaving officials scrambling to find a way to keep the remaining $6 billion from expiring at the end of the month deadline – the end of the 2024 fiscal year – approaches.
Sources close to the negotiations told Reuters that the State Department hopes to attach an extension of the PDA authorities to a Continuing Resolution, a short-term emergency spending bill that the Senate and House of Representatives must pass this month to avoid a Sept. 30 government shutdown.
Congressional aides, who requested anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations, insisted there would be a solution, given strong bipartisan support for assisting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government.
Zelenskyy will travel to the United States this month and hopes to present a “victory plan” to Biden. He is expected to take part today in a meeting of the Ramstein group of nations, including the U.S., which supplies arms to Ukraine.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
