Pro-Ukraine Republican lawmakers are already thinking about how to get the country more funding for its war with Russia when its $60 billion aid package runs out in January, Punchbowl reported.
The Republicans are weighing how to get Congress additional time to discuss funding in early 2025, regardless of who wins the White House and controls both chambers of Congress, Punchbowl said.
"What we don't want to have is a lapse," Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a member of the Senate GOP leadership team, told Punchbowl. "And we're going to have to build a case for the Trump administration — I’m presuming he's going to win; I think he's the odds-on favorite — but I'd like to have some flexibility, depending on how long it takes."
Tillis said he believes the U.S. will continue to support Ukraine if Trump is reelected.
"We don't want [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to see the risk of some sort of lapse or a loss of momentum," Tillis told Punchbowl. "And the best way to do that is to build up results toward the end of this Congress, leading into the next one."
Trump has said he would broker a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia if he returns to the White House. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, Trump's running mate on the Republican ticket, has opposed additional aid to Ukraine.
Punchbowl reported that new funding for Ukraine before the end of the year would be dead on arrival in the House, but Tillis could use other Pentagon funding streams or expand presidential drawdown authority to provide the country with additional funding, via the defense authorization bill.
"Ukraine has shown if we give them the resources, they'll fight for their own country very effectively," Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the lead Republican on the Armed Services Committee, told Punchbowl News.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he was willing to continue funding Ukraine.
"I'll work with whoever to get that done," Schumer told Punchbowl.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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