U.S. Lawmakers Weigh Lend-Lease Program Favored By Trump As Ukraine Aid Compromise

The speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson

U.S. lawmakers who have been working to find a way to pass a major military aid package for Ukraine say they are considering a proposal that would set up a lend-lease program favored by former President Donald Trump.

Senator Markwayne Mullin (Republican-Oklahoma), who on March 14 toured an arms factory in Arkansas, said he supports additional U.S. military aid for Ukraine, though he previously voted against the bill when it passed the Senate last month.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Ukraine Live Briefing gives you the latest developments on Russia's invasion, Western military aid, the plight of civilians, and territorial control maps. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

The Senate bill would provide roughly $60 billion to support Ukraine against Russia's full-scale invasion, but it has been stuck in the House, where Republicans, including many who back Trump, oppose it.

But Mullin described another package that is being worked on that Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has supported because it could help make the United States less dependent on China.

"There is a package that's being worked on the Senate and the House side that could possibly move forward," he said, citing an idea that would give the United States first rights to Ukraine's mineral resources in return for the aid.

Mullin joined U.S. Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Senator John Boozman (Republican-Arkansas), on the tour of a Lockheed Martin factory in Camden, Arkansas, where they walked past workers assembling components of the M270 Multiple-Launch Rocket System and the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). Both systems have been in high demand in Ukraine.

Boozman said he supported the lend-lease bill, adding that the military funding that Ukraine seeks will eventually be provided "because it’s so important.”

The tour took place a day after House Speaker Mike Johnson (Republican-Louisiana) told Republican senators to expect the House to send them legislation to help Ukraine but cautioned that whatever the House passes "may not look exactly like the Senate supplemental."

During a question-and-answer session at a Senate Republican retreat on March 13, Johnson tried to reassure Republican senators who are frustrated about the lack of action on funding for Ukraine and floated the idea of making it a loan, according to senators who participated in the discussion quoted by The Hill.

Senator John Cornyn (Republican-Texas) praised the idea of a lend-lease program in addition to or perhaps instead of the $60 billion the Senate included in its package.

"That's what FDR did in World War II," Cornyn said, referring to a lend-lease program that President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed in 1941 to arm Britain and other allies against Germany.

Cornyn also said another proposal calling for the forfeiture of $300 billion in Russian assets held in Western financial institutions "is a great idea."

"It would be justice to make the Russians to pay for Ukraine, pay the United States and allies for arming Ukraine," he said, referring to legislation known as the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act.

Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican-South Carolina) said a lend-lease program would help Ukraine stop Russian gains on the battlefield.

"I think it’s an elegant solution, particularly with the REPO Act, where you can take oligarch assets," he said, according to The Hill. "I think that is a sweet spot, because if you're for helping Ukraine, are you really going to say no to a loan?"

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, asked about the possibility of a lend-lease program during a conference call with reporters, said the bill passed by the Senate "will answer very well our strong desire to continue to support Ukraine" and urged Johnson to bring it to the floor.

With reporting by The Hill and AP