The US government has given a lot of money to Ukraine since the war started last year. No one expected the war to still be going on. Now, there are warning bells being sounded: the funding levels to fund Ukraine are running out.
We could tell President Zelensky of Ukraine that he’s on his own. The US cannot afford to give any more money to what’s looking like a never-ending war. If he needs funding, he’ll have to ask another country for the money.
Biden doesn’t want to do that. The White House is planning to ask for a new aid package. It will benefit Ukraine as well as other countries.
The government is out of time and money should more aid need to be given prior to the end of the year. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young, has already given Congress this message.
Biden’s begging Congress for an aid package.
Young also sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, as well as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to stress the urgency of approving some kind of aid package.
She wrote, “I want to be clear: without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from U.S. military stocks. There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of money—and nearly out of time. We are out of money to support Ukraine in this fight. This isn’t a next year problem. The time to help a democratic Ukraine fight against Russian aggression is right now. It is time for Congress to act.”
There are, of course, a few problems with this.
The $111 billion that was set aside to aid Ukraine’s military has been exhausted, and we haven’t seen any real accountability for how the money has been used.
A budget has already been passed, so there is no money tree to reach from for more aid. It would mean that some areas of the already approved budget would need to be cut. Perhaps the US military’s own needs? VA benefits for our aging veterans? Maybe the education system…
There’s no place that should get cut simply to continue helping Ukraine.
Let’s not forget that there’s another war happening between Israel and Palestine – and funds will need to go there, too.
Ukraine is all too aware of the situation, too. A member of Ukraine’s Parliament, Yehor Chernev, made the comment that “Tactically, the shift in attention from Ukraine to Israel made our situation somewhat more difficult since our war ceased to be the single hottest point on the planet.” Chernev is also the deputy chairman of the country’s national security, defense and intelligence committee. He knows that the US is split but still wants the help.
How much is the US expected to help?
Speaker Johnson has already said that aid packages are likely to pass. The only stumbling point is that aid will need to be split between Ukraine and Israel. Who gets how much? That will be the battle for Congress to figure out.
Meanwhile, you can expect this to hurt our economy. After all, we’ve seen it time and again that Biden will focus on others before he focuses on Americans, no matter the cost.
