Recent news from Capitol Hill has focused on a series of foreign aid bills that include billions of dollars in security funding for Ukraine and Israel.
A third measure includes a smaller, but still significant, amount for security in the Indo-Pacific. More than $8 billion is in the “Indo-Pacific Security Supplemental" bill.
A news release from the Republican majority on the House Appropriations Committee said that money will “continue to counter communist China and ensure a strong deterrence in the region.”
Support is solidly bi-partisan — this portion of the three-part aid plan passed by a vote of 385 to 34, which is a wider margin than either aid to Ukraine or to Israel.
Rosa DeLauro, ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said in a floor speech that the bill will provide the support allies need “to counter China’s aggressive and adversarial posture.”
Nearly $2 billion will go to “replenish defense articles and defense services” to Taiwan and regional partners. Another $2 billion will go to new military purchases by Taiwan and “other key allies and security partners.” And more than 3 billion dollars will go to “develop submarine infrastructure," including “investments in dry dock construction.”
Much of the spending matches Senate legislation, including more than half a billion dollars coming to the Commander of Indo-Pacific Command here in Hawaiʻi.
