US debt ceiling agreement will not affect support for Ukraine – White House

The bipartisan agreement on raising the debt limit and preventing default in the US will not limit the Biden administration's ability to provide substantial financial assistance to Ukraine.

This was announced by the White House Budget Director Shalanda Young, reports Ukrinform.

Thus, she confirmed that a new substantial aid package for Ukraine does not figure in the context of negotiations about budget cuts and raising the state debt limit.

Any additional military aid will go through Congress as an additional measure, which will not be subject to the federal spending restrictions provided in the agreement, as one official told Bloomberg agency.

Background. US President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached a preliminary agreement on raising the US debt ceiling for two years and establishing new spending limits for this period. The influential Wall Street Journal believes that this puts an end to the confrontation that threatened a historic default on the US public debt and jeopardized the global economy.

The agreement was announced a few hours after Biden and McCarthy spoke on the phone on Saturday evening for about 90 minutes, following weeks of negotiations between the White House and Republican party leaders in the House of Representatives, the publication notes. It reminds us that the agreement requires the approval of both houses of Congress. McCarthy stated that voting could take place on Wednesday, 31 May, in the House of Representatives, where Republicans have a slight majority, and some conservatives quickly expressed their disagreement.