WASHINGTON: U.S. President Joe Biden signed a record $886 billion defense spending bill into law on Dec. 22, according to a White House.
The National Defense Authorization Act is an annual bill that both parties have supported for over 60 years. The 2024 budget won widespread bipartisan approval in both the Senate and the House of Representatives before heading to Biden’s desk.
The bill allocates only $300 million in its record-breaking budget for Ukraine aid. The money will fund the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative through the year 2026.
The bill authorizes $300 million for the program through the end of the 2024 fiscal year, and for the year following.
These funds fall far short of the $61 billion in aid that Biden has urged Congress to approve. Lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on funding before the end of the year, as Republicans continue to obstruct Ukraine aid in an effort to pressure Democrats to impose aggressive restrictions on immigrants and asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Biden praised the 2024 budget for advancing “critical objectives” but highlighted concerns over the bill’s foreign policy sections, saying that some provisions might undermine the president’s “authority to articulate the positions of the United States in international negotiations.”
“Nevertheless, I will not treat them as limiting the President’s constitutional discretion to articulate the views of the United States before international organizations and with foreign governments,” Biden said.
