Washington, Dec. 20 (CNA) A United States government funding bill for 2023 unveiled Tuesday authorized US$2 billion in loans to Taiwan to buy weapons from the U.S., but did not include grants for similar purposes that had been approved in a separate defense bill.
The version of the 2023 Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act, covering funding for the U.S. government for fiscal year 2023, released by the Senate on Tuesday, allowed up to US$2 billion in direct loans to Taiwan under the “Foreign Military Financing Program.”
That was consistent with provisions in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that was passed earlier this month by both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
But the appropriations bill released Tuesday, which still is being negotiated by U.S. lawmakers, left out a provision in the NDAA that called for providing annual grants to Taiwan of up to US$2 billion annually from 2023 to 2027 for military-related purposes in the face of China’s military pressure.
The grants were part of another bill, called the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act, that was folded into the NDAA.
Oklahoma Senator James Infofe, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was disappointed with the outcome.
“I remain disappointed that the Biden administration refuses to comply with congressional inquiries regarding Taiwan’s military needs and refuses to request money to implement the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act,” Inhofe said in a statement.
“This is simply another national security misstep by the administration.”
According to Defense News, the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Menendez of New Jersey and James Risch of Idaho, were pushing for up to US$500 million in grants while Lindsay Graham of South Carolina advocated loans.
“You’ve got all kinds of needs. You’ve got a famine all over the world. You’ve got food shortages. I want to be helpful to Taiwan, but probably the better approach is loans,” Graham was quoted as saying by Defense News.
Despite passage of the NDAA, grants and loans must still be proposed through appropriation bills and approved by the U.S. Congress before Taiwan can receive them.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act provides US$1.7 trillion in discretionary resources for the U.S. government in 2023, according to a press release issued by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
In total, the regular 12 appropriations bills include US$800 billion in non-defense funding, a 9.3 percent increase over the funding in 2022.
This is the highest level for non-defense funding ever. The bills also provides US$858 billion in defense funding, the press release said.
