The US Capitol. (Photo by Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The White House today formally sent to Congress a $105 billion supplemental budget request dominated by military investments for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific.
Should a chaotic Congress go along, the funds would include $61.4 billion for Kyiv, $14.3 billion for Jerusalem in addition to multiple smaller pots of money for Indo-Pacific initiatives. As part of that international and additional domestic spending, a White House fact sheet says the supplemental would invest “over $50 billion in the American defense industrial base,” with a major focus on submarines.
“It is a smart investment that’s going to pay dividends for American security for generations,” President Joe Biden said last night when announcing the supplemental, which will “help us keep American troops out of harm’s way, help us build a world that’s safer, more peaceful, more prosperous for our children and grandchildren.”
Politically, Ukraine aid has become a hot-button issue with congressional Republicans, so it appears the White House’s strategy is to make the supplemental as beneficial to as wide a number of members as possible in order to steal away needed votes.
That explains why a supplemental with a heavy foreign policy tint to it includes $13.6 billion in investments in border security and explicitly calls out fentanyl trafficking. In a statement, the White House indicated its strategy will be to slam GOP members as weak on the border if they don’t support the request: “We have been clear that Congressional Republicans need to stop playing political games with border security and provide the resources our law enforcement personnel need to keep the Southwest border secure and stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States.”
That also likely applies to the decision to include funding for Indo-Pacific-related issues, as that could help woo China hawks who want to make sure Ukraine and now Israel do not distract from what the Pentagon has declared to be its “pacing challenge” long-term.
Eric Sayers, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told Breaking Defense the submarine industrial base funding’s inclusion in the request is “an excellent step by the administration” that “didn’t seem possible just a few months ago.”
Among the highlights in the funding request:
- Making $4 billion available through Sept. 2027 for Israel to procure more Iron Dome and David’s Sling air defense systems. The description does not specify if that money is only for systems or if it includes funding for interceptors, a major request Israel has made in recent days.
- $30.6 billion for Ukraine-related Operations and Maintenance funding, creating a large pool of money the Secretary of Defense can help guide. Interestingly, that includes a call-out that the funding could be used for the “expansion of public and private plants, including the land necessary therefor, and procurement and installation of equipment, appliances, and machine tools in such plants, for the purpose of increasing production of critical munitions.”
- $2.5 billion for ammunition procurement for use in Europe.
- Approximately $144 million for nuclear nonproliferation efforts, with funds that would “prepare for and respond to potential nuclear and radiological incidents in Ukraine, provide equipment and sensors to augment Ukrainian capabilities, assist Ukrainian partners with security of nuclear and radiological materials, and prevent illicit smuggling of nuclear, radiological, and dual-use materials.”
- About $798 million for Air Force operations and maintenance, which would provide “personnel support such as temporary duty costs; operational support such as intelligence analysis, flying hours, maintenance, and weapon system sustainment; and other unit support costs.” That money would be available through the end of fiscal 2024.
- Over $361 million for Air Force research and development, which “would be used for cybersecurity and other defense support required for the European theater of operations.” That money would be available through September 2025.
- Over $2.6 billion for Air Force “other procurement” that “would be used for classified programs,” running through Sept. 2026.
- $10 billion in humanitarian assistance in Israel, Gaza, Ukraine and elsewhere around the globe
Big Ticket Item: Submarine Investments
The supplemental request includes $3.4 billion for the US Navy’s submarine fleet and associated industrial base.
“Key investments are also needed in the American submarine industrial base to increase our ability to build and sustain attack submarines — one of our most effective deterrence capabilities,” the White House letter to Congress says. “This request makes urgent and strategic investments — including workforce development, infrastructure, and supplier capacity building — that are necessary to meet U.S. military requirements.”
The White House’s request would provide $2.1 billion to the service’s shipbuilding account to “support the submarine industrial base to increase production rates and submarine availability through initiatives in supplier development, shipbuilder and supplier infrastructure.”
Roughly $394 million in “other procurement” funding as well as $7 million research and development funding would be provided for similar purposes.
Of that $3.4 billion, $558 million would go to making improvements at the service’s four public shipyards. An additional $282 million in military construction funds would go specifically towards shipyard-related infrastructure efforts.
Lastly, Naval Reactors, the Navy’s agency responsible for managing its nuclear technologies, would receive $98 million to support “hiring and infrastructure expansion” associated with the trilateral security pact between Australia, United Kingdom and the United States, dubbed AUKUS.
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., a vocal AUKUS supporter in Congress, said in a statement today the White House’s request will “position the AUKUS mission for success.”
“With Prime Minister [Anthony] Albanese’s official visit to the United States in just a few days, President Biden is proving, once again, that the U.S. has an unwavering commitment to the trilateral security agreement and maintaining peace in the Indo Pacific,” he said.
Sayers, the AEI fellow, said the plan to execute AUKUS would have been “incomplete” if the US did not made “robust” investments in its own submarine industrial base and public shipyards prior to accepting anticipated funding from Canberra.
“Our industrial base and all three navies will emerge from this effort even stronger in the late 2020s and beyond as a result,” Sayers said.
Chaos In Congress, A Lawmaker’s Message to Israel
The challenge now will be getting the funding actually pushed through a Congress which is, at present, literally unable to perform its responsibilities thanks to the ongoing drama about who will be the next Speaker of the House.
The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, spoke about the supplemental at a Center for a New American Security event today. Smith said that without now-former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was increasingly publicly skeptical of further funding Ukraine, he hoped the bill would have a better chance — even with the chaos over the speaker’s gavel.
“The key thing, the administration needs to be working very, very closely with Republicans. There are a number of Republicans who support this. Michael Turner is one,” Smith said, referencing the Ohio Republican who is a longtime member of the House Armed Services Committee. A couple of other Republican members, he noted, may also be good candidates for the speaker job.
Smith also used the opportunity to send a message to Israel about the use of force as it strikes Gaza in its ongoing war against Hamas.
“The degree to which the world sees Israel as acting in the correct and just manner matters, not just from a moral emotional standpoint,” he told the audience.
“If you do not appear like you care at all about civilians in Gaza, you will be less able to succeed in your mission,” Smith later added. “They need to really change that. They did not do a good job the first few days and organizing this message that they sent out.”
More broadly, Smith said Israel needs to make sure its intelligence is correct before any major ground assault into Gaza, given the events of the Oct. 7 attacks, when Israeli intelligence seems to have totally broken down. In his opinion, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “doesn’t seem” to have all the intel it needs.
“It’s nine years now of Hamas building up even more capability that they’re not clear on. So, you gotta get that straightened out,” Smith said. Additionally, he noted the roughly 300,000 reservists who have been called up will all need a refresher on urban of combat operations, which can be “extraordinarily difficult.”
“Now, the suggestion here is…don’t do nothing,” Smith said. “Okay, train, gather the intel to target the people you’re trying to take out and understand the network, where things are standing.”
Breaking Defense’s Justin Katz, Aaron Mehta, Michael Marrow and Ashley Roque in Washington contributed to this report.
