Biden made promises to Israel and Ukraine. To keep his word, he needs Congress

President Biden walks toward Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on Fri., Oct. 13, 2023. Susan Walsh/AP hide caption

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President Biden walks toward Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on Fri., Oct. 13, 2023.

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For President Biden, the international coalition he brought together to support Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia is a point of pride, something made possible by his decades of foreign policy experience.

He has promised allies — and Ukraine itself — that the United States will back them "as long as it takes." And last week, he made similar assurances to Israel after Hamas attacked, killing more than a thousand people.

"We stand with Israel. And we will make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself, and respond to this attack," Biden said.

But keeping those promises will take billions in funding from Congress — funding that is far from assured as the Republican-led House of Representatives struggles to overcome factional strife to name a speaker.

Without a speaker, the House can't vote on anything. And a small but powerful group of House Republicans has balked at providing more funding for Ukraine.

"The combination of challenges to our democracy, having a dysfunctional Congress and then add to that that we're now part of two wars going on in Ukraine and Israel," said Leon Panetta, who served in the Obama and Clinton administrations, including as CIA director and defense secretary.

"It's not just the credibility of Joe Biden. It's the credibility of the United States. And the last thing this country needs to do in a dangerous world is send our adversaries a message of weakness," Panetta told NPR.

President Biden walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kiev during a visit he made on Feb. 20, 2023. Evan Vucci/AP hide caption

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President Biden walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kiev during a visit he made on Feb. 20, 2023.

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The White House will include Ukraine funding as part of a package, with support for Israel

The White House has said it will soon run out of money to help Ukraine. It originally asked Congress for $24 billion to help Ukraine make it through the end of 2023. But that request wasn't included in a stop-gap spending bill that runs until Nov. 17.

shows Biden — who has expressed a strong pro-Israel stance — has from that.

Heather Conley, president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said it's long past time for Biden to be doing more to explain to the public why they need to back Ukraine.

President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy met with other world leaders at a NATO summit on July 12, 2023 in Vilnius, Lithuania. Sean Gallup/Getty Images hide caption

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President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy met with other world leaders at a NATO summit on July 12, 2023 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Biden has a lot on the line, politically

Being a leader on the world stage is a big part of President Biden's political identity, raising the stakes for him in this moment as the 2024 presidential election draws closer.

Big foreign policy failures can hurt presidents politically, said Peter Feaver, a political scientist at Duke University who has served in both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.

That means Biden has a lot riding on Ukraine's success — and that requires Congress to continue funding military aid, Feaver said.

"If that success is replaced by a collapse in Ukraine because we stop supporting Ukraine, then the Biden foreign policy record looks much much more negative," Feaver said.