President Biden is asking Congress to hand over another $10 billion in funding to combat COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and an additional $37.7 billion in aid to Ukraine as Congress begins debate on its next spending measure ahead of a mid-December deadline.
White House officials say the funding, which the administration expects to last through the remainder of the fiscal year, is critical to protect the American people from a potential winter coronavirus surge and to help Ukraine persist in the face of Russia’s unrelenting brutality.
But the nearly $48 billion ask presages one final spending showdown with Democrats still at the helm in both chambers as Congress again caps a legislative session with government-funding brinkmanship.