Senate approves $40B Ukraine aid package

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The Senate approved a $40 billion additional aid package for Ukraine.
• The bill will be sent to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.
• The package includes humanitarian and military assistance for the war-torn nation as the last aid package will soon run out.

The Senate approved additional humanitarian and military assistance for Ukraine worth around $40 billion. The vote comes as the last aid package from the U.S. was expected to run dry this week. 

The bill will be sent to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature. The newly-approved amount is triple the amount of aid the U.S. has already pledged to Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion. The bipartisan bill passed with 86-11 votes, with many Republicans joining all Democrats in approving the aid.

The assistance will “meet the large needs of the Ukrainian people, as they fight for their survival,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, said before votes were cast. “It’s a fight we cannot turn away from. By passing this emergency aid, the Senate can now say to the Ukrainian people, “help is on the way’.”

The approved $40 billion aid package is $7 billion more than what Biden has initially requested. It includes more than $20 billion for the Pentagon to provide weapons, intelligence and training, and almost $14 billion for the State Department for food aid, refugee assistance and other diplomatic programs.

In March, the approved funding was worth $13.6 billion. The combined amount approved by Congress this year is now $53.7 billion — about 81% of Russia’s 2021 defense budget. It’s also more than 25% of the size of Ukraine’s economy before the invasion. 

Schumer and GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in a rare show of bipartisanship, asked fellow senators to approve the aid package immediately as administration officials warned that the previous round of assistance would run out this week.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who went to Kyiv last month, urged the Senate to “act quickly” as aid is expected to run out soon. The two men officials made a promise to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that more assistance was forthcoming.

Sen. Rand Paul, who objected to the bill’s passing, argued that the U.S. is already in too much debt to provide more funding for Ukraine. The passage of the bill was delayed several days due to Paul’s objection.

“Unless we put an end to the fiscal insanity, a day of reckoning awaits us,” Paul said Monday. 

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patrick Leahy said Paul “caused needless delay” by objecting to a bill that has wide bipartisan support.

Source: USA Today