Washington —

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Brown Jr. testified on Capitol Hill on Tuesday about the Pentagon’s $850 billion 2025 budget, as questions remained about whether lawmakers would support Israel or Ukraine’s current spending needs.

The Senate hearing was the first time lawmakers from both parties were able to question the Pentagon’s top civilian and military leadership on the administration’s Israel strategy in the wake of Israel’s deadly attack on humanitarian aid workers at the World Central Kitchen in Gaza. Previously, Ukrainian President Zelensky kept making desperate pleas that if the United States did not provide help soon, Kiev would lose to Russia.

In their opening remarks, both Austin and Brown emphasized that their 2025 budgets still take into account the military’s long-term strategic goal of preparing troops and weapons for a potential future conflict with China. About $100 billion of this year’s requirements is set aside for new space, nuclear weapons and cyberwarfare systems, which the military says must be invested immediately before Beijing’s capabilities surpass them.

But the conflict in Ukraine and Israel is posing challenges for a deeply divided Congress and delaying passage by months of last year’s defense budget, which lawmakers passed just weeks ago.

Austin’s opening remarks were briefly interrupted by protesters who raised Palestinian flags and chanted for him to stop sending weapons to Israel. “Stop the genocide,” they said, raising their red-stained hands.

The Pentagon has raised about $300 million in munitions to be shipped to Kyiv in March, but cannot ship more without congressional support, and a separate $60 billion supplemental bill to fund the efforts has been stalled for several days. moon.

“The cost of American leadership is real. But it is far less than the cost of American abdication,” Austin told senators.

A fall in Kiev could endanger Ukraine’s Baltic NATO neighbors and potentially drag U.S. forces into a protracted European war. If millions of people die from starvation in Gaza, it could anger Israel’s Arab neighbors and lead to a broader, deadlier Middle East conflict — one that could also bring dozens of consequences to U.S. forces and U.S. relations in the region. years of damage.

The Pentagon has been urging Congress for months to support new aid to Ukraine, to no avail, and is trying to walk a dangerous line between defending its ally Israel and maintaining ties with key Arab regional partners. Israel’s actions in Gaza are used as a rallying cry by Iranian-backed militant factions, including the Houthis in Yemen and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and Syria, to target U.S. interests. Three U.S. service members have been killed as drone and missile attacks on U.S. bases in the region increase.

Six U.S. warships carrying personnel and parts to build humanitarian aid terminals are also still en route to Gaza, but questions remain about how the food arriving at the terminals can be safely distributed in the affected areas.

Lawmakers also see a need at home. For months, a handful of far-right members have blocked Congress from approving additional funds or weapons to Ukraine until domestic needs were addressed, such as curbing the influx of migrants at the U.S. southern border. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has faced calls from Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to oust him as speaker as Johnson works to reach a compromise to move Ukraine aid forward.

Regarding Israel, the World Central Kitchen strike has led to a shift in tone from President Joe Biden on how Israel must protect civilian lives in Gaza and prompted dozens of House Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to call Biden halts arms shipments to Israel. Israel.

Half of Gaza’s population is starving and on the verge of famine as Israel severely restricts the passage of aid trucks.