The Senate’s bipartisan deal to avoid a shutdown and keep the government open through Nov. 17 has $4.5 billion for Pentagon-related Ukraine aid efforts and includes an anomaly for the Columbia-class submarine program.
The upper chamber is aiming to begin consideration of its continuing resolution (CR) proposal as soon as Tuesday evening, with just days left for Congress to move on a stopgap funding measure before the end of the fiscal year and allow both the House and Senate more time to work on passing final fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills.
“A shutdown would be nothing short of a catastrophe for American families, our national security, and our economy. It is critical that we avoid one, and that’s exactly what this bipartisan legislation will do,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Appropriations Committee, said in a statement. “While we continue work on annual appropriations bills to address our country’s full needs in the year ahead, this legislation prevents a shutdown, keeps our government funded, and provides critical dollars to support communities struck by disaster and support Ukraine at a pivotal moment in its defensive efforts against Putin’s brutal, unprovoked war of aggression.”
The $4.5 billion for DoD-related Ukraine aid in the CR proposal includes $1.5 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which is used to award contracts to industry to meet Ukraine weapons needs, $1.5 billion to replenish stockpiles of equipment sent to Kyiv and $475.3 billion for procurement “to respond to the situation in Ukraine and for related or other expenses,” according to the bill text.
The CR also includes $1.65 billion in emergency funding for State Department efforts to continue assisting Ukraine.
The Biden administration in August sent Congress a new supplemental spending request, which calls for $5 billion in further USAI funding and another $4.5 billion to replace DoD weapons stocks and reimburse the department for services, education and training provided to Ukraine (Defense Daily, Aug. 10).
House Republicans last week rolled out their own one-month CR deal, which exempted defense funds from a spending cut but did not include further Ukraine aid, with the proposal receiving immediate pushback from Democrats and some GOP members (Defense Daily, Sept. 18).
The Senate’s CR deal, like the House’s proposal, includes the White House’s requested anomaly for the Columbia-class submarine program.
The White House previously requested that Congress’ consideration of a short-term funding bill to avoid a government shutdown include a provision allowing planned funds for the Columbia-class nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine program to avoid delays (Defense Daily, Aug. 31).
Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s acquisition chief, said on Tuesday a potential government shutdown would be “extremely disruptive,” citing impacts to testing and acceptance of new equipment (Defense Daily, Sept. 26).
The Pentagon is restricted from starting new programs under a CR, with LaPlante noting the stopgap funding measures and a shutdown’s block on production increases as the department seeks to continue supporting Ukraine and replenishing its own stockpiles of critical munitions.