{"id":164942,"date":"2026-10-14T06:11:52","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T14:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/10\/14\/democratic-midterm-gains-could-speed-us-military-aid-to-ukraine-lawmaker-says\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T06:11:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T14:11:52","slug":"democratic-midterm-gains-could-speed-us-military-aid-to-ukraine-lawmaker-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/10\/14\/democratic-midterm-gains-could-speed-us-military-aid-to-ukraine-lawmaker-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Democratic Midterm Gains Could Speed US Military Aid To Ukraine, Lawmaker Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/2026\/10\/democratic-midterm-gains-could-speed-us-military-aid-to-ukraine-lawmaker-says\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Democratic Midterm Gains Could Speed US Military Aid To Ukraine, Lawmaker Says<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-single__featured-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"577\" src=\"https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2026\/10\/2026WSF_DAY2_BS_3549-e1791912682636-1024x577.avif\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><figcaption class=\"post-single__featured-image-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJim Himes, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence addresses the Warsaw Security Conference (Warsaw Security Conference)\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"post-single__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BELFAST \u2014 <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">The pace of US military aid to Ukraine is likely to ramp up if Democrats win control of the House of Representatives and Senate in November\u2019s midterm elections, according to the top Democrat on the House\u2019s intelligence committee.<\/mark><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><mark class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">A switch in power \u201cdoes change things,\u201d Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said today at the <a href=\"https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/2026\/10\/amid-unease-in-europe-nato-saceur-bullish-on-block-blunt-break-theory-of-victory\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Warsaw Security Conference<\/a>.<\/mark><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt means that aid packages [to Ukraine] move not in nine months, but in nine days or nine weeks on the outside, and that the message [of support to Ukraine] is very different,\u201d <mark class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">he said.<\/mark><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><mark class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">Himes comments come amid <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/68fd8c4f-6f34-4f6e-a52c-76f635164031?syn-25a6b1a6=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reports<\/a> that the Trump administration has threatened to stifle the procurement system supplying weapons to Ukraine in a bid to pressure Kyiv into ending deep strikes against Russian energy infrastructure.<\/mark><mark class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">On Sunday, US President Donald Trump announced an energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. He has also received <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/10\/12\/trump-russia-diesel-putin.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bipartisan<\/a> criticism for temporarily lifting restrictions on Russian diesel exports.\u00a0<\/mark><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><mark class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">Under NATO\u2019s Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative, NATO allies and partners fund the purchase of US-sourced weapons and equipment for Ukraine, with NATO coordinating deliveries. The mechanism depends on Washington making those weapons available for purchase, meaning the Trump administration could still affect the flow of European-funded military assistance by restricting access to US equipment.<\/mark><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><mark class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">If Democrats gain control of both chambers and the budget, Trump could be forced to negotiate with the party to fund his priorities, Himes said. In exchange for accepting those terms, Democrats would \u201cdemand\u201d that the presidentadopts a \u201cmuch more affirmative and consistent policy in support of Ukraine.\u201d<\/mark><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><mark class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">Himes said polling and prediction markets suggest the midterms could deliver \u201ca fairly massive repudiation of the president,\u201d though he argued that the result would not be driven directly by Trump\u2019s Russia-Ukraine policy.<\/mark><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><mark class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">\u201cIt will be because, in a remarkable political experiment,\u201d Trump said he would not go to war in the Middle East and would lower living costs, he said.<\/mark><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><mark class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">\u201cAnd he did precisely the opposite of both those things,\u201d Himes said. \u201cWhat happens in November is going to be almost certainly a switch of control in the House of Representatives, and quite likely a switch of control in the Senate.\u201d<\/mark><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><mark class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">Speaking in Warsaw on Monday, Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, chair of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, deferred to NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe <a href=\"https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/2026\/10\/amid-unease-in-europe-nato-saceur-bullish-on-block-blunt-break-theory-of-victory\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gen. Alexus Grynkewich<\/a>,\u00a0when offering thoughts on Ukraine and Iran.<\/mark><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Grynkewich \u201cthinks we\u2019re up to the task with regard to helping Ukraine and finishing whatever the President [Trump] intends to do after the election in Iran,\u201d Wicker explained. \u201cMy viewpoint, and I\u2019ve expressed this publicly and told the president, my viewpoint is that the memorandum of understanding and stopping and starting [peace negotiations] was not a good idea with regard to Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The post Democratic Midterm Gains Could Speed US Military Aid To Ukraine, Lawmaker Says appeared first on Above the Law. Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence addresses the Warsaw Security Conference (Warsaw Security Conference) BELFAST \u2014 The pace of US military aid to Ukraine is likely to ramp up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}