The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a 2026 defense spending bill that provides about $1 billion to support Ukraine, despite the fact that Donald Trump’s administration did not include that funding in its budget request. About this informsReuters agency.
The committee agreed to allocate $852 billion for the Defense Department for the next fiscal year, which ends on September 30, 2026. That’s $21.7 billion, or 2.6 percent more than what was proposed in Trump’s budget.
The bill was supported by 26 senators, three voted against it, which indicates broad bipartisan approval of the initiative, the agency writes. The bill includes $800 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) and $225 million for the Baltic Security Initiative, much of which will eventually go to support Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression.
“I would say that the support of Ukraine amounts to a billion dollars”, said Sen. Chris Coons, a member of the subcommittee on defense spending.
Trump’s budget request and the defense appropriations bill passed by the House earlier this year did not include any funding for the USAI program, which funds security intelligence, training, equipment and supplies for Ukraine
The draft law will go through legislative procedures in the coming months. The lower house of Congress — the House of Representatives — in its version of the law left Ukraine’s support at $300 million. It will then be sent to the White House for Donald Trump to sign into law or veto.
