President Biden has asked Congress for $33 billion (£27 billion) in military, economic, and humanitarian aid to help Ukraine, despite insisting that the US is not “attacking Russia.”
Mr. Joe Biden said it was “critical” for US lawmakers to approve the agreement, which he said would aid Ukraine in its defence.
The proposal includes over $20 billion in military aid, $8.5 billion in economic aid, and $3 billion in humanitarian aid.
Words from Joe Biden
“It’s not cheap,” Mr. Biden admitted on Thursday. “However, if we allow aggression to prevail, it will cost us more.” Despite the fact that the US has already announced assistance for Ukraine, the proposals represent a significant increase in aid.
According to President Biden, US military assistance to Ukraine has so far amounted to ten anti-tank weapons for every tank deployed by Russia. Despite his fiery rhetoric, he insisted that the US was not attacking Russia. “We are assisting Ukraine in its defence against Russian aggression,” he insisted.
President Biden’s assistance
President Biden has asked Congress to authorize a massive sum of money for Ukraine, more than twice the amount of money the US has already spent on military equipment and humanitarian aid.
The US president wants to demonstrate that he is unafraid of the use of nuclear weapons, as well as Vladimir Putin’s threat to retaliate against countries that intervene in Ukraine. He dismissed those remarks, saying they demonstrated Russia’s desperation over their abject failure to accomplish what they set out to do.
Explaining why this money is needed – at a time when many Americans are suffering from rising living costs – he said it was not cheap, but doing nothing was more expensive.
An additional plan to allow US authorities to not only freeze but also liquidate the assets of Russian oligarchs is risky, and it has alarmed civil liberties groups in the United States. However, it is likely to receive bipartisan support in Congress.
However, it will not even begin to cover the cost of the additional sums of money that the White House wishes to spend to support Ukraine’s war efforts.
President Biden on nuclear war and Russia’s “blackmail”
Mr. Biden also addressed concerns about a nuclear war in his speech on Thursday. “No one should be making idle remarks about the use of nuclear weapons,” said Mr. Biden. Furthermore, Mr. Biden lashed out at what he called Russian “gas blackmail” to threaten European energy supplies.
Russia cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria this week. “We will not allow Russia to use intimidation or blackmail to get out of these sanctions,” he said.
“We will not allow them to use their oil and gas as a means of avoiding the consequences of their aggression.” The new Ukraine package’s announcement comes at a difficult time for the US economy.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis’ recently released data.
According to data released on Thursday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the US economy shrank in the first quarter of 2022, with GDP falling 1.4 percent between January and March.
According to BBC North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher, lawmakers will likely approve the bill. “Congress appears to have an unlimited willingness to fund military support for Ukraine,” he said, as Biden struggles to get funding for his domestic priorities.
“Thirty-three billion dollars is a sizable sum, but if history is any guide, it should be approved with relative ease – as long as Democrats don’t try to tack on unrelated spending provisions.”
Mr. Biden’s initial funding request, approved by Congress last month, was under $14 billion. Last week, President Biden approved a second $800 million military aid package and a $500 million direct economic aid package.
The United States’ assistance to Ukraine
Since the war began in late February, the United States has moved quickly to assist Ukraine. This includes the following:
· $3.7 billion in military and security aid
· Putting over 100,000 troops in Europe
· Sanctions against hundreds of Russian oligarchs and politicians
The package will “create new forfeiture authorities for Russian kleptocracy-linked property, allow the government to use the proceeds to support Ukraine, and strengthen related law enforcement tools,” according to the White House.
Edited By : Khushi Thakur
Published By : Shubham Ghulaxe
