A US$13.6 billion emergency package of military and humanitarian aid for besieged Ukraine and its European allies easily won final US congressional approval late on Thursday.
With Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion killing thousands and forcing more than 2 million to flee, the Senate approved the US$1.5 trillion overall legislation by a 68-31 bipartisan margin.
Democrats and Republicans have battled this election year over rising inflation, energy policy and lingering pandemic restrictions, but have rallied behind sending aid to Ukraine, whose stubborn resilience against brutal force has been inspirational for many voters.
Photo: AFP
“We promised the Ukrainian people they would not go at it alone in their fight against Putin,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said just before the vote. “And once we pass this funding in a short while, we will keep that promise.”
As the US House of Representatives passed the compromise bill easily on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden’s signature appears certain.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that approval “proves once more that members of both parties can come together to deliver results for the American people.”
White House aides told Congress last month that Biden wanted US$6.4 billion to counter Russia’s invasion.
He ended up formally requesting US$10 billion, an amount that it took an eager Congress just a few days to boost to its final figure.
About half the US$13.6 billion measure for the war was for arming and equipping Ukraine, and the Pentagon’s costs for sending US troops to other Eastern European nations skittish about the warfare next door.
Much of the rest included humanitarian and economic assistance, strengthening regional allies’ defenses and protecting their energy supplies and cybersecurity needs.
Republicans strongly backed that spending, but criticized Biden for moving too timidly, imploring his administration to allow the transfer of Poland’s MiG fighter jets to Ukraine.
“This administration’s first instinct is to flinch, wait for international and public pressure to overwhelm them, and then take action only after the most opportune moment has passed us by,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said.
Forty Republican senators on Thursday signed onto a letter from senators Joni Ernst and Mitt Romney, urging Biden to answer a plea from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who told lawmakers over the weekend that if the US could not help with a no-fly zone, it could at least send more planes for his people to defend against the attack from Russia.
The Biden administration had initially indicated that the Soviet-era planes now in NATO ally Poland could be transferred to help provide air support as Ukraine battles Russia’s assault.
However, the Pentagon on Wednesday slammed the door on a surprise offer from Poland to instead transfer the planes to NATO by handing them off at a US base in Germany.
The Pentagon said the planes are not the most effective weaponry and the Polish plan could run a “high risk” of escalating the war.
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