The U.S. Congress is planning to pass a aid package to Israel this week without including funding for Ukraine

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, confirmed that assistance to Ukraine and Israel will be handled through two separate bills, rather than a single one as proposed by the White House.

This was reported by Bloomberg.

As the publication notes, it is currently unclear how much money will be included in Johnson’s proposed bill for funding only Israel. This decision contradicts President Biden’s calls for a combined aid package for Ukraine and Israel totaling $106 billion.

In an interview with Fox News, Johnson confirmed that Israeli funding will be considered separately.

“We are going to consider a separate bill for funding Israel in the House of Representatives this week. We believe this is an urgent and immediate need. We must not waste time and I think we will vote on it this week,” said Johnson.

He added that the bill focusing solely on Israel will receive bipartisan support in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

Earlier, he stated that Republicans in the House of Representatives would propose a $14.5 billion aid package to Israel, slightly more than what the Biden administration had requested.

Recently, U.S. President Joe Biden submitted a request to Congress including funding for assistance to Ukraine and Israel and strengthening American borders, totaling $106 billion. Around $14.3 billion is proposed to be allocated to Israel in the 2024 fiscal year. A significant portion of these funds will be directed towards supporting the country’s air and missile defense systems and other weapon purchases. Additionally, Biden aims to secure over $9 billion in humanitarian aid, including for Israel and Gaza, which is facing a humanitarian crisis.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Republican members of the U.S. Senate want to amend the request. According to the publication, there is broad bipartisan support in Congress for aid to Israel. However, some Republicans are skeptical about new funding for Ukraine, while others would prefer to fund weapons instead of humanitarian or direct economic aid to the Ukrainian government. Moreover, some Republicans want aid to Israel to be separated from aid to Ukraine.

It is worth noting that in the temporary U.S. budget, which was necessary to avoid a government shutdown and was passed by Congress a few weeks ago. The assistance to Ukraine was not included, primarily due to a lack of support from radical Republicans.