Political | Process

The package includes more than $18.7 billion in military and security aid, both to Ukraine and to backfill U.S. defense supplies that have been distributed.

Among other things, the legislation calls for nearly $8.8 billion in economic and budgetary assistance for Kyiv and spends money to settle refugees in Europe and the U.S. It would also send $5 billion around the world to address food shortages caused by the war.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), after briefing Mr. Biden on her recent trip to Poland and Ukraine, said House Democrats are moving forward quickly with the aid “because of the urgency that we saw.” Mrs. Pelosi said she discussed four issues with the president: security, sanctions, humanitarian assistance and economic assistance.

Support for aid to Ukraine as it battles invading Russian forces has broad bipartisan backing in Congress, but some Republicans have expressed wariness about spending more money without further oversight.

Congress provided Ukraine earlier this year with $13.6 billion in military, humanitarian and economic aid as part of a broader spending bill, covering the first two months of the war. That money is nearly exhausted.

“This is an enterprise that almost everybody is in favor of. Having said that, as always, the devil is in the details,” Sen. James Risch (R., Idaho) said.

Some lawmakers have expressed concern about the amount of money going to refugees or want to know how Ukraine would handle the influx of aid money and how the food aid could be distributed in a timely manner. The aid package will need 60 votes to advance in the Senate, which is split 50-50 between the parties.

Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the appropriations panel, said there was no agreement. He said that he wanted to pass aid as “quickly as we can but make sure we’re doing the right thing.”

Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.), the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was frustrated that the process wasn’t moving faster.