Grassroots veterans group warns lawmakers of challenges from continuing the blank check in U.S. aid to Ukraine.
ARLINGTON, Va.— Reports indicate President Biden is planning to request another $11.7 billion in emergency funding from Congress to provide lethal aid and budget support to Ukraine. The request also includes an additional $2 billion to address the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine on U.S. energy supplies.
The request would be on top of the roughly $54 billion in aid Congress has already authorized this year alone. It also comes as the Defense Department warns of ammunition stockpiles becoming “uncomfortably low” as a result of weapon transfers to Ukraine.
CVA Senior Advisor Dan Caldwell had this to say about the latest request:
“At a time of record inflation, high energy prices, and a $30 trillion national debt, the United States should not continue to write a blank check for the war in Ukraine – especially as wealthy European countries have so far refused to carry their weight in support of the country. This request would bring the total American aid to Ukraine in 2022 to roughly $66 billion. That is more than the yearly U.S. budget for Afghanistan in the last years of the war and more than the entire annual budget of the government of Ukraine in 2020.
“Continued U.S. aid to Ukraine should be connected to clear U.S. national interests and a strategy to end the bloodshed while avoiding the risks of escalation with a nuclear-armed Russia. The Biden Administration so far has failed to articulate a clear end-state for its Ukraine policy and as a result the Congress should not rubber-stamp this aid request. Our lawmakers have a responsibility to seriously consider the impact massive spending bills like this will have on our economic prosperity and the ability of the United States to defend itself. If they quickly pass this aid request and larger spending bill without serious debate, they will show they don’t take this responsibility seriously.”
Throughout all of July, Europe’s six largest countries offered Ukraine no new bilateral military commitments, according to new data — the first month that had happened since Russia invaded in February. To date, U.S. aid to Ukraine dwarfs all of Europe’s contributions combined.
Additionally, as the president provides more armaments to Ukraine, it is notable the United States has nearly emptied its armories of critical and hard-to-replace weaponry to support Ukraine, weakening American defense capabilities.
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