After months of delays and contentious intra- and inter-party disputes, US President Joe Biden signed into law, on April 24, 2024, a spending bill that includes USD $60 billion in aid for Ukraine. The main work of passing the legislation was completed four days prior, when the bill was approved by the House of Representatives in a resounding bipartisan vote against the objections of the House’s far-right Republican coalition.

The passage of a new spending package for Ukraine has been hotly contested since late-2023, when the wing of the Republican party that produced House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted that it be tied to more aggressive policy with respect to the US-Mexico border.

The legislation contains a procedure for financing Ukraine’s military via the selling off of frozen Russian financial assets. Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, declared that Russia would respond with legal and military challenges should the US pursue this funding measure. It also contains USD $26 billion in aid to Israel and USD $8 billion for Taiwan–both of which passed with larger bipartisan House majorities than did the funding for Ukraine–and about USD $9 billion dedicated to humanitarian aid for Gaza and elsewhere.

So, what does this mean?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the US government for its assistance, which is desperately needed by Ukraine’s armed forces as they continue to be pushed further into the country’s interior by the Russian military. The money is a lifeline for the Ukrainian war effort, but one that came at huge cost in time, ammunition, and manpower.

However, the effort expended to activate Congress’s spending power naturally leads to the issue of the next spending bill, given the war looks no closer to a resolution than it did at this time last year. Future votes may be even more contentious as the impending presidential and congressional election cycle approaches, and those officials who worked with their opposition colleagues to pass this funding package become less willing to do so the next time around.

Meanwhile, the European Union continues to allocate significant financial resources to support for Ukraine, but is no more obviously united on the future prospects of such support than is the US government. Nor is it as willing as the US to devote money specifically to the Ukrainian military. In fact, a significant majority of the EU’s aid allotment is dedicated to financial assistance, with less than 10% of the total going to military-specific uses.