White House to step up efforts for military aid to Ukraine and Israel

That’s according to Reuters, Ukrinform reports.

Republicans have insisted that additional funding for Ukraine must be paired with major U.S. border security changes but a bipartisan group of senators trying to broker a compromise have made little progress with less than a week before the U.S. Congress leaves for a Christmas break.

"The White House is going to get more engaged this week," Senator Chris Murphy, the lead Democratic negotiator, said.

He added that it was important to know if U.S. President Joe Biden would sign any prospective deal.

As Ukrinform reported, on Wednesday, the Republican minority in the U.S. Senate blocked a bill envisaging additional funding, including aid to Ukraine and Israel, in a procedural vote. Republicans explained this by the lack of provisions to amend U.S. border policy, which they have been unsuccessfully seeking for many years.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Russia, Iran and China are interested in disrupting further U.S. aid to Ukraine, which continues to be a matter of disputes in the U.S. Congress.