WASHINGTON — Ukraine and Israel both desperately need the military weapons that are being held up by Congress' failure to pass a funding package^[1] for the two countries at war, Pentagon leaders told House appropriators Wednesday, calling the situation in Ukraine dire.

“Whether it’s munitions, whether it’s vehicles, whether it's platforms," Ukraine is being outmatched by the Russians, Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. “I’ll just tell you that Ukraine right now is facing some dire battlefield conditions^[2].”

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, seated alongside Brown, told lawmakers that time matters.

“We’re already seeing things on the battlefield begin to shift a bit in Russia’s favor. We are seeing them make incremental gains. We’re seeing the Ukrainians be challenged in terms of holding the line," he said.

Their grim assessments came as House Republicans wrangle over the $95 billion foreign aid bill^[3] that the Senate passed in February. That legislation provides funding for Ukraine, Israel and other allies, as well as humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza and Ukraine and replenishment cash for the U.S. military to replace weapons sent to Ukraine.

House Speaker Mike Johnson was forging ahead Wednesday toward votes later this week on the funding, even as he risks losing his leadership post in the bitterly divided Republican caucus.

President Joe Biden urged Congress to pass the aid, saying that besides critical support to Israel and Ukraine, it would offer “desperately needed humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.” He said he would sign the funding package right away, sending a message that “we won’t let Iran or Russia succeed.”

Members of the House panel lamented the gridlock that has stalled the foreign aid, but several said they are hopeful the legislation will begin to move.

Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., noted the “chilling” comments by Gen. Christopher Cavoli, the top U.S. military commander for Europe last week. He told the committee that Ukraine^[4] will be outgunned 10 to one by Russia^[5] within a matter of weeks if Congress doesn't approve the funding.

“Without the United States assistance, Ukraine will literally run out of ammunition and more civilians in Ukraine will be murdered by Russia,” McCollum said.

Brown told lawmakers that Israel also critically needs support in the bill, including air defense interceptors and munitions to defend itself following Iran's attack over the weekend. Iran launched about 300 missiles and drones^[6] toward Israel on Saturday, but the vast majority were shot down by Israeli defenses or U.S. and other allies. The attack came less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building.

Israel has vowed to retaliate^[7] as the U.S. and other allies urge restraint^[8].

The funding issue dominated the hearing, including its impact on the U.S. military and defense companies scattered across 30 states. The Pentagon's comptroller, Michael McCord, said the Defense Department has already spent about $2 billion for military operations in Europe and the Middle East to ensure troops and allies there are secure.

Some of that includes the movement of Navy ships to help protect Israel over the weekend and the extended deployment of ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to safeguard commercial and military vessels being targeted by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

Without the supplemental funding, McCord said the $2 billion would have to be absorbed by the base budget and shifted from other spending on things like facilities and equipment maintenance.

“So there is an impact on our forces and our readiness as well if we cannot get the supplemental approved,” he said.

Austin also repeated a selling point that defense leaders have been making to lawmakers over the past several months: The funding bill will directly help the American defense industry that is building Abrams tanks, ammunition and other weapons and equipment.

He said about $50 billion in the supplemental will flow through the defense industrial base “creating good American jobs in more than 30 states.”

Related: House’s Ukraine, Israel Aid Package Gains Biden's Support as Speaker Johnson Fights to Keep His Job^[9]

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he strongly supports a proposal from Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson^[1] to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending crucial bipartisan support to the effort this week to approve $95 billion in funding for the U.S. allies.

Ahead of potential weekend voting, Johnson was facing a choice between losing his job and funding Ukraine. He notified lawmakers earlier Wednesday that he would forge ahead despite growing anger from his right-flank. Shortly after Johnson released the funding proposals, Democrat Biden offered his emphatic support for the package.

“The House must pass the package this week, and the Senate should quickly follow,” the Democratic president said. “I will sign this into law immediately to send a message to the world: We stand with our friends, and we won’t let Iran or Russia succeed.”

After agonizing over how to proceed^[2] on the package for days, Johnson notified GOP lawmakers Wednesday that he would push to hold votes on three funding packages for Ukraine, Israel and allies in the Indo-Pacific, as well as several other foreign policy proposals in a fourth bill.

Johnson is proposing that economic assistance for Kyiv be structured as forgivable loans, along with greater oversight on military funding, but the decision to support Ukraine^[3] at all has angered populist conservatives in the House and given new energy to a threat to remove him from the speaker's office.

The bills “will fund America’s national security interests and allies in Israel, the Indo-Pacific, and Ukraine,” Johnson wrote in a text message to members, which was shared by two Republican lawmakers.

The votes on the package are expected Saturday evening, Johnson said. But he faces a treacherous path^[4] to get there.

The speaker needs Democratic support on the procedural maneuvers to advance his complex plan of holding separate votes on each of the aid packages. By holding separate votes on each aid package and then sewing them back together, Johnson is trying to squeeze the aid through the House’s political divisions on foreign policy.

The top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, said in a statement that the three funding proposals for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan “mirror” a $95 billion foreign aid package^[5] that the Senate passed in February.

Crucial to Democratic support, the House proposal kept in tact roughly $9 billion in humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza and other conflict zones. Progressive Democrats are also opposed to providing Israel with funding that could be used for its campaign into Gaza that has killed thousands of civilians.

Meanwhile, the threat to oust Johnson from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican of Georgia, gained support this week. One other Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, said he was joining Greene and called for Johnson to resign. Other GOP lawmakers have openly complained about Johnson's leadership.

“You are seriously out of step with Republicans by continuing to pass bills dependent on Democrats,” Greene wrote on the social platform X. “Everyone sees through this.”

In an effort to satisfy conservatives, Johnson said he would hold a separate vote on a border security package that contains most of a bill that was already passed by House Republicans last year. That bill has already been rejected by the Democratic-controlled Senate, and conservatives quickly denounced the plan to hold a separate vote on it as insufficient. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas called the strategy a “complete failure.”

The ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus posted on X that Johnson had was “surrendering the last opportunity we have to combat the border crisis.”

With the speaker fighting for his job, his office went into overdrive trumpeting the support rolling from Republican governors and conservative and religious leaders for keeping Johnson in office.

“Enough is enough,” said Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on social media. He said “instead of bickering amongst themselves” the House Republicans should “do their damn job and vote on the important issues facing our nation.”

Conservative evangelical leader Ralph Reed said his Faith & Freedom Coalition opposed the motion to vacate the speaker and would “strongly support” Johnson.

At the same time, the speaker’s office was tidying up after Johnson said on Fox News that he and Trump were “100% united” on the big agenda items, when in fact the Republican presidential nominee who had just hosted the House leader in a show of support opposes much overseas aid as well as a separate national security surveillance bill.

As part of the foreign aid push, Johnson said House members would have an opportunity to vote on a raft of foreign policy proposals, including allowing the U.S. to seize frozen Russian central bank assets, placing sanctions on Iran, Russia and China, and potentially banning the video app TikTok^[6] if its China-based owner doesn’t sell its stake.

The precarious effort to pass the foreign aid comes amid growing alarm at the precarious situation in Ukraine. Johnson, delaying an excruciating process, had waited for over two months to bring up the measure since the Senate passed it in February.

In the House Intelligence Committee, the Republican chairman, Rep. Mike Turner, and top Democrat, Rep. Jim Himes, issued a joint statement Tuesday saying that they had been informed in a classified briefing that there was a “critical need” to provide funding for Ukraine this week.

“The United States must stand against Putin’s war of aggression now as Ukraine’s situation on the ground is critical,” the lawmakers said in a statement.

In a separate hearing on Wednesday, Pentagon leaders testified that Ukraine and Israel both desperately need military weapons.

“We’re already seeing things on the battlefield begin to shift a bit in Russia’s favor," said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

The House's version of the aid bill pushes the Biden administration to provide long-range ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) to Ukraine, which could be used to target Russian supply lines.

The U.S. has resisted sending those weapons out of concerns Moscow would consider them escalatory, since they could reach deeper into Russia and Russian-held territory. The House legislation would also allow the president to decline to send the ATACMS if it is against national security interests, but Congress would have to be notified.

The House bill would also redouble the oversight of aid and equipment sent to Kyiv, including in-person monitoring requirements.

Still, there was a growing acknowledgement in Washington that Johnson could soon be out of the speaker's office.

“This is a chance to do the right thing,” Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, said this week. “If you pay for it, you’ll be known in history as the man who did the right thing even though it cost him a job.”

The Air Force^[1]'s top uniformed officer told the service in a memo that changes to basic housing allowances at some bases, expanded child-care staffing and updated dining halls are either in place or on the horizon for airmen.

Gen. David Allvin, the Air Force chief of staff, told airmen in an emailed memo on Monday that as he nears the six-month mark in his tenure, the service has "been charting a course for the change we need" and highlighted a variety of recent policy updates and quality-of-life updates that have been put in place.

"This biannual letter is my way of chronicling our improvements and holding myself accountable to this vision," Allvin wrote. "Being mindful stewards of our progress is our best chance at overcoming the challenges we face."

Read Next: Former Marine 'Neo-Nazi' Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison for Firebombing of Planned Parenthood^[2]

Allvin said airmen began receiving a basic housing allowance increase of 5.4% since the beginning of 2024, and that there was an even more substantial increase of 10.5% in six areas, namely for those near F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, Cannon Air Force Base^[3] in New Mexico, Whiteman Air Force Base^[4] in Missouri, as well as other Air National Guard^[5] bases and assignments in Fargo, North Dakota; Terre Haute, Indiana; and Washington, D.C.

He also said that the Air Force has been working to expand staffing, family child care and financial assistance for airmen who need support.

"In the past six months, we have seen the [child development center] staffing remain at the high watermark of 80%, up nearly 20% from two years ago ... improving, but not there yet," Allvin wrote to airmen.

Allvin also told airmen that the Air Force is working to expand its food service program at more bases, saying it's taking on "a model reminiscent of college campus dining facilities" -- such as offering airmen personalized pizza, deli, salad bars and convenient snacks.

Around 70 installations are changing their dining halls to meet the new model, and some, such as Offutt Air Force Base^[6] in Nebraska, are currently underway, the service said in a January press release.^[7]

All these fixes are targeted at addressing longstanding quality-of-life issues within all the military services, including the Air Force.

Military.com reported last month^[8] that Washington lawmakers have said they want to include more financial support for military quality-of-life improvements than what the Pentagon asked for in its 2025 budget request, but congressionally agreed-upon budget caps are likely to cause issues.

Allvin also pointed to recent updates to the Air Force's training and testing methods, including offering electronic testing for the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test and for the enlisted Weighted Airman Promotion System, as well as tweaks to Basic Military Training that implements physical training and lifestyle management courses at the beginning.

In the Air Force chief of staff's first letter to the force in November, he warned of "formidable challenges" facing airmen^[9] and named China as a major threat.

In February, the Department of the Air Force unveiled that officials are renaming, reorganizing and rethinking their services' structures so airmen and Space Force^[10] Guardians can be ready for competition with China.

One of those changes included bringing back warrant officers -- a plan first reported by Military.com^[11]. In his Monday memo, Allvin said the first class of cyber- and information technology-focused warrant officers will start this October, and the second will begin in January 2025.

Allvin also mentioned in his letter that the service is looking to reorganize the numbered air forces -- such as the 8th Air Force or 9th Air Force, which are focused on certain theaters, or the 2nd Air Force or 19th Air Force, which are focused on training -- into "Service Component Commands." But details were scant, with Allvin saying "more to follow in my next update."

Related: New Air Force Chief of Staff Warns of 'Formidable Challenges' in First Message to Service^[12]