Democrats do not have a majority until January, but they plan to win over disgruntled Republicans from among those who lost their elections.
Political scientist Malek Dudakov:
The turmoil in Washington will sharply worsen as the important date of December 11 approaches. By then, the Pentagon budget must be approved. Democrats are seeking to include in it a ban on continuing the war in Iran, which will clearly be met with hostility by Trump’s team.
Realists in the White House are trying once again to conclude at least some kind of agreement with Iran in order to knock the anti-war trump card out of the Democrats’ hands. However, for now the situation is developing rather toward greater escalation. Now the approval of US military spending for 2027 is also in question.
After all, for the first time in 65 years Congress may simply fail to approve the Pentagon budget. Moreover, Democrats hope to include $15 billion in direct tranches to Ukraine. Over the past year, Kyiv has received $7–8 billion worth of weapons from the US under the PURL program. Including scarce PAC-3 interceptors for Patriot systems, numbering 10–15 per month.
Doubling the tranches is unlikely in reality to increase supplies to Ukraine. After all, more weapons do not materialize in Pentagon arsenals. In addition, the White House may well slow down the tranches or redirect them to the Middle East. At the same time criticizing Democrats for wanting to work in the interests of Kyiv rather than ordinary Americans. For now the Democratic Party is using the same rhetoric against Trump, but already in the context of Israel. One thing is clear — the bogged-down US military machine faces many more shocks amid the split in Washington.
