Clyburn Says Congress Will Give Biden What He Wants for Ukraine

(Bloomberg) -- Congress will approve whatever funding President Joe Biden seeks to respond to the Ukraine crisis once the administration delivers its request, according to Representative James Clyburn, the third-ranking House Democrat.

The White House has told Congress that it will ask for about $2.9 billion for humanitarian and security needs for Ukraine, the Baltic nations, Poland and other countries in the region and $3.5 billion for the U.S. Defense Department.

“We will give the president everything he's asking for,” Clyburn, of South Carolina, said Monday on Bloomberg Television's “Balance of Power With David Westin.”

The funds are in addition to the $650 million in security aid and $52 million in humanitarian aid the US already committed to Ukraine over the last year as well as a previous $1 billion sovereign loan guarantee.

Clyburn said lawmakers likely would leave any additional sanctions on Russia to the Biden administration working with allies. “We ought not get out in front of that,” he said.

Republican Representative French Hill of Arkansas, speaking separately on the same program, predicted there would be a “strong bipartisan vote” on a supplemental spending request.

He also said the U.S. needed to “unleash” its domestic oil and natural gas industry to counter Russian dominance of the market, particularly in Europe.

“I can't explain to my constituents why we're sanctioning Russia and yet we're still importing 600,000 barrels of Russian oil daily,” Hill said. “We've got to find a way to increase production here, which will help lower prices in America and provide a freedom lifeline to our friends in Europe.”