A US House of Representative committee on Monday released its version of this year's Consolidated Appropriations Act that included US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan.
The omnibus act, covering a total of US$1.2 trillion in spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative (TSCI) and US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan.
Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters
Those fund allocations were based on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 that was passed by Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the TSCI.
The TSCI is designed to bolster Taiwan's self‑defense capabilities by providing funding for areas such as medical support, training and joint development of uncrewed systems with the US, consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act.
Whether this funding actually gets released would depend on how the Consolidated Appropriations Act proceeds through Congress.
After partisan wrangling over the government budget forced the longest government shutdown in US history in October and November last year, lawmakers seem interested in wanting to get funding bills, including the act, passed by Friday next week to avoid another shutdown.
They stressed the bipartisan nature of the negotiations on budget legislation, but the bills still need to get through the Senate, which is scheduled to be out of town the rest of the week, as well as the full House, expected be out all of next week, USA Today reported.
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