“Ukraine defends democracy”
US prepares $40 billion package
5/11/2022 5:23 am
US President Biden had bid for 33 billion dollars for Ukraine – the mostly democratic House of Representatives even gave 40 billion. If the Senate agrees, military and humanitarian support should be provided immediately.
The House of Representatives in Washington has approved an aid package for Ukraine requested by US President Joe Biden by billions of dollars and passed it by a large majority. In the House of Commons, 368 MPs from both Biden’s Democrats and opposition Republicans voted in favor of the bill. The 57 votes against came from the ranks of Republicans. The package is worth almost $40 billion (€38 billion).
It will be “decisive in helping Ukraine not only defend its nation but also defend democracy for the world,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a letter to colleagues. The Senate – the other chamber in Congress – has yet to approve it.
Biden had asked Congress for $33 billion. In the package that has now been increased, around half of the total sum goes to defense. Of this, $6 billion is earmarked for direct military aid to Ukraine. Another billions are planned, among other things, to replenish US stockpiles with military equipment that was sent to Ukraine.
Other funds are earmarked for, among other things, humanitarian aid for refugees from Ukraine or for people around the world who are suffering from hunger as a result of the Russian war of aggression. Biden had urged Congress to hurry on Monday. The President had warned that the funds so far made available to him by Congress for Ukraine could be used up within ten days. Pelosi’s letter said: “With this aid package, America sends a resounding message to the world that we are determined to stand with the courageous people of Ukraine until victory is achieved.”
Democrat Pelosi visited Kyiv with a delegation of MPs just a few days ago. The US government had previously launched several large packages of support for Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war at the end of February, the United States has promised or delivered weapons and ammunition worth more than 3.7 billion US dollars (around 3.5 billion euros) to the former Soviet republic.