US House passes $890 billion defense bill, includes $400 million for Ukraine aid

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $890 billion defense policy bill on Sept. 10, allocating $400 million for Pentagon security assistance to Ukraine despite mounting Republican resistance, the New York Times reported.

The new funds were allocated under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), a Pentagon-led program that supplies arms to Ukraine through contracts with U.S. defense companies.

While the Ukraine provision faced pushback, a proposal by Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene to eliminate aid was rejected with bipartisan opposition.

Greene tied her initiative to the Sept. 10 killing of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in the U.S., vowing to introduce amendments to block further funding for Ukraine.

Zarutska fled Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Her killing, captured in a video circulated by conservative commentators, has been weaponized in the U.S. and Europe to promote xenophobic narratives.

Since the start of his second term, U.S. President Donald Trump has avoided seeking new congressional funds for Kyiv, instead pressing European allies to buy U.S.-made weapons for Ukraine.

"We're no longer involved with funding Ukraine, but we are involved with trying to stop the war and the killing in Ukraine," Trump said at a cabinet meeting in late August.

While Ukraine continues to receive U.S. arms under the USAI, Trump has yet to approve any new aid packages under a separate tool called the presidential drawdown authority, which his predecessor, ex-President Joe Biden, widely used.

Instead, Trump unveiled a new Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative, a NATO-led program under which the allies purchase American weapons for Ukraine.

The bill passed 231-196 and also provides for enhanced military readiness and higher pay for U.S. service members.

The House bill now moves to the Senate, where further negotiations are expected.