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On Tuesday, the House of Representatives approved nearly $ 40 billion in additional aid to Ukraine as the country grapples with Russia’s brutal invasion in its third month.
The package of military, economic and humanitarian support, which is $ 7 billion more than the $ 33 billion requested by President Biden, was approved in a bipartisan vote of 368 to 57, with the Senate expected to follow suit this week.
All Democrats in the House of Representatives on Tuesday night voted in favor of the measure. They were joined by 149 Republicans in the House of Representatives. Fifty-seven Republicans in the House of Representatives voted no.
Congress has provided $ 13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine this year, which means that if the latest package is passed, lawmakers will approve a total of more than $ 50 billion in aid.
Speaking in the hall on Tuesday night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) repeatedly denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “coward”, described the aid package as an “act of mercy” and described the war in Ukraine as the future of Ukraine. global democracy.
“We should all be very proud that we had the opportunity, when Putin decided – whatever he decided – to be brutal, cruel and cowardly, that we were there to help,” Pelosi said. “It’s about democracy against dictatorship. Democracy must prevail. The Ukrainian people are fighting for their democracy, and thus for ours.
According to a summary provided by the Committee on Appropriations to the House of Representatives, the package includes nearly $ 15 billion in military equipment, training, intelligence support and salaries for Ukraine’s national security forces; nearly $ 14 billion in State Department-administered programs such as humanitarian support for Ukrainian refugees and the planned return of the U.S. embassy in Kyiv; and $ 5 billion to address global food insecurity.
Pelosi led a congressional delegation in Kyiv last month and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In a letter Tuesday to Democrats in the House of Representatives, she noted that the latest package goes even further than Biden’s request, including additional military and humanitarian aid.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Said on Tuesday afternoon that he had spoken to Biden last week and called for the package for Ukraine to move “just and fast”.
“It needs to be cleared of external issues directly related to helping Ukrainians win the war,” McConnell told reporters.
However, as the House of Representatives debate on the measure began on Tuesday, however, some Republicans voiced opposition to the speed with which the legislation was presented on the ground. At one point, Representative Chip Roy (R-Tex.) Forced a vote on a postponement proposal, arguing that lawmakers had not been given enough time to read and discuss the bill. The proposal failed.
“Do you want to talk about standing next to Ukraine?” Roy said. “Why don’t we actually have a debate on the floor of the House of Peoples, instead of getting garbage to get a $ 40 billion bill at three o’clock in the afternoon, unpaid, without having any idea what’s in it?” ”
Several MEPs welcomed the aid package as one that would have consequences far beyond Ukraine.
“This bill contains valuable resources to tackle the global food crisis, which has been exacerbated by the Russian invasion,” said Barbara Lee, D-California, who was part of a congressional delegation to Eastern Europe in recent weeks. “This is truly a defining moment in our history, in Ukrainian history, in the history of Poland and in world history.
Leaving their respective party lunches on Tuesday afternoon, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate expressed some optimism that both houses of Congress could act to send the bill to Biden’s bureau by the end of the week.
Speaking about the meeting of the Democratic Party, where the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova, Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) Of the Senate majority told reporters that lawmakers heard a “heartfelt and easy-to-understand message.”
“People are dying, they are running out of supplies and ammunition [and] they need our help quickly, “he said of Markarova’s statement. He noted that the senior diplomat had told Democrats: “Thank you and speed it up.”
Senator Tim Kane (D-Va.) Said he thought the Senate could vote “by the end of the week”, noting that at one point Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.) “We were talking on the phone in the middle of lunch, so I think it was really a bargain.”
Republicans proposed a similar encouraging note. Senator Richard S. Shelby (Alabama), the Republican’s top MP on the Senate Budget Committee, described the talks as “really, really close; we are on the right track. ”
“Let’s see what the House is doing,” he said. “If it’s good and tasty. . . we will take it. But we have to see. “
In a joint letter to lawmakers Monday, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called on Congress to approve the aid package, saying the remaining funds would expire on May 19. The Biden administration has only $ 100 million in money allowed to support Ukraine, secretaries said.
“In short, we need your help,” they wrote.
Authorized withdrawals, which send equipment and weapons from the Pentagon’s stockpile, have been used to deliver tens of 155-mm howitzers, tens of thousands of artillery shells and hundreds of drones, among other military supplies. Last Friday, Biden announced another package of aid for Ukraine’s withdrawal, which included additional ammunition and radar equipment.
“The ability to draw from what exists [Defense Department] “The actions were a critical tool in our efforts to support the Ukrainians in their fight against Russian aggression,” the secretaries wrote to Congress. “We urge you to act quickly at the request of the administration.
Biden was optimistic Monday that lawmakers would approve the spending plan quickly. In a bid to speed up congressional adoption, the president said he had withdrawn earlier plans to combine Ukraine’s proposal with coronavirus funding legislation into a single bill.
“I was informed by the leaders of Congress and both parties that such an addition would delay action on urgently needed Ukrainian aid, an opinion strongly expressed by several Republicans in Congress,” he said. “We cannot afford to delay this vital military effort.
So far, aid to Ukraine has enjoyed bipartisan support. Last month, the House of Representatives voted 417 to 10 to pass a land leasing bill aimed at speeding up arms supplies to Ukraine. Just a few weeks earlier, the Senate had adopted it unanimously. Biden signed the bill Monday.
However, 31 Senate Republicans voted in March against a massive $ 1.5 trillion bill to fund government agencies and departments for the rest of the fiscal year, a bill that included $ 13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine. In the House of Representatives, 54 Republicans and 15 Democrats opposed the measure.
The measure was approved by both houses, and Biden signed it into law, saying the United States “is urgently moving to further increase support for the brave people of Ukraine while defending its country.”
Jong reported from Seoul. Mariana Alfaro and Tony Rom contributed to this report.
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