Running out of dollars for Ukraine? The White House is sounding the alarm

“Money is running out and time is running out”: the White House sounded the alarm today for the American military aid to Ukraine, which is at risk if Congress does not pass a new funding package by the end of the year.

“I want to be clear: if Congress does not act, by the end of the year we will not have the resources to provide weapons and equipment to Ukraine and to provide materials from the US military stockpile,” wrote Salanda Young, the budget director. of the White House, in a letter to the speaker of the House of Representatives, where the Republicans have the majority.

“There is no magic funding available to deal with the emergency. Money is running out and time is running out soon”he emphasized.

At the heart of next year’s budget discussions is an emergency funding package of more than $100 billion, which US President Joe Biden requested from Congress on October 20 to address current emergencies, namely Ukraine and Israel, to limit the expansion of China’s influence and to stem the flow of immigrants to the US’s southern border.

“Stopping the arrival of American weapons and equipment would hurt Ukraine’s war effort,” Young stressed in her letter, noting that “this would jeopardize Ukraine’s advances and increase the possibility of Russian victories.”

“Our deliveries of military aid have already been reduced,” he noted.

“It’s not a problem for next year. Now we must help democratic Ukraine fight the Russian aggression,” Yang concluded.

The US, the biggest provider of military aid to Ukraine, has been in a budget impasse for months due to ongoing political turmoil.

The world’s most powerful Congress — made up of the Democratic-dominated Senate and the Republican-dominated House of Representatives — has yet to vote on a final budget for the next fiscal year that began on Oct. 1.

The federal government is operating thanks to an emergency extension of its funding, which expires in mid-January.

When Biden asked for this massive package, $60 billion of which is earmarked for Ukraine, the House of Representatives was plunged into chaos due to the impeachment of its speaker and infighting among Republicans.

It has since acquired a new president, Mike Johnson, which has allowed budget talks to resume. However, these are difficult as a handful of right-wing GOP lawmakers, while in favor of aid to Israel, want to cut off military aid to Kiev.

Other conservative lawmakers are demanding, in exchange for their support for the Ukraine package, that US immigration policy be tightened.

Source: News Beast

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