The White House requested a $10 billion package last week to provide additional assistance to Ukraine following Russia's invasion, but by the time the receipts come in it appears the check from the United States is going to be a bit bigger.
The House of Representatives was preparing to vote on a bill Wednesday that would provide $13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine, according to NBC News, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he expects $14 billion in aid for Ukraine by the time all is said and done.
Of that amount, $6.5 billion would go to the Defense Department and $3.9 billion will go towards humanitarian assistance for the State Department. About $3 billion of the money going towards the Defense Department will pay for U.S. troops that are helping defend NATO in Europe.
President Joe Biden's administration originally requested just $6.4 billion in total emergency funding to assist Ukraine, but that number keeps growing.
Congress has until Friday to agree on final numbers and pass the spending legislation, otherwise there would be a partial government shutdown. The aid to Ukraine is just a small part of the total $1.5 trillion spending bill that would keep the federal government open through September.
Overall, the United States has already provided more than $1 billion in security assistance to Ukraine in the past year, according to the Department of Defense.
This included a recent $350 million package that a senior defense official called "the largest presidential drawdown package in history" during a press conference on March 4. The official added that $240 million had already been delivered to help Ukraine against Russia.
"Because drawdown is taken from the stocks of the services, we're not going out on the market and purchasing new items," the official said. "We have to actually have it in hand to be able to deliver it."
President Biden announced a ban on Russian oil and energy imports on Tuesday, adding to the list on economic sanctions that have been placed on Russia for their invasion of Ukraine.
He acknowledged how much these sanctions on Russia and additional funds to aid Ukraine will cost, but argued that "defending freedom is going to cost."
"This is a step that we're taking to inflict further pain on Putin, but there will be costs as well here in the United States," Biden said. "I said I would level with the American people from the beginning. And when I first spoke to this, I said defending freedom is going to cost. It's going to cost us as well in the United States."
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