In a rare show of bipartisanship, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle overwhelmingly approved nearly 14 billion dollars in aid to Ukraine Wednesday, for both humanitarian and military support. The 13.6 billion represented nearly double what President Biden had initially requested of Congress, and which he described as going to protect Ukraine against “Tyranny, oppression, [and] violent acts of subjugation.”
Wrapped into a trillion and a half dollar bill to fund the government that is expected to reach the President’s desk by week’s end, the Ukrainian aid approval comes as the Kremlin claims the U.S. has declared “economic war” on Russia. Russia’s top spokesman Dimitri Peskov stated, rather ominously, that “The United States definitely has declared economic war against Russia and is waging this war,” and that, “If you are asking me what Russia is going to do – Russia is going to do what is necessary to defend its interests.”
According to a breakdown from the AP, “Over $4 billion of the Ukraine aid was to help the country and Eastern European nations cope with the 2 million refugees who’ve already fled the fighting. Another $6.7 billion was for the deployment of U.S. troops and equipment to the region and to transfer American military items to Ukraine and U.S. allies, and there was economic aid and money to enforce economic sanctions against Russia as well.”
“We’ve been slow — much too slow,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said of pulling together bipartisan support for the aid, “But the package, I gather, will be coming over from the House … I think it’s an important step. It needs to be passed, and it needs to be passed quickly.”