USA discuss new aid: 33 billion dollars and a historic law

The United States wants to intensify its support for Ukraine: President Biden has requested $33 billion in aid. Congress also reactivated a 1941 law to facilitate arms shipments.

The US Congress reactivated a 1941 law by an overwhelming majority of 417 votes to 10. The Lend-Lease Act originally helped the British resist German attacks in World War II before the US entered the war.

Now the law is intended to enable the Biden government to give away large quantities of weapons to Ukraine – in order to save lives, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “This will enable the US government to support the Ukrainian security forces more quickly .So that they push back the Russian aggressors and defend their democracy.” As long as the war is raging in Ukraine, count every minute, the democrat said in her speech.

Biden wants $33 billion for Ukraine

The law now has to be signed into law by President Joe Biden. The New York Times estimates that he had recently asked Congress for additional aid for Ukraine totaling 33 billion US dollars – half of it for military equipment. By comparison, to date the Biden administration has delivered and promised a total of $3.7 billion in military aid.

So it’s an unprecedented amount that the White House plans to use to fund US aid over the next five months. Biden defended his motion: “We need these laws for Ukraine’s fight for freedom. Our NATO allies, our EU partners bear their share of the costs. But we have to do our part , if we lead the alliance.”

Biden’s spokeswoman Psaki explained that from the US point of view it was a long-term effort, a longer war. With no prospect of a ceasefire or even a complete withdrawal of the Russian army, all sides would only dig deeper.

Blinking: “There’s a fierce fight”

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was asked for his assessment of the situation at a congressional hearing yesterday. “There is fierce fighting in the east and south of Ukraine,” he said. “The Russians have great firepower. And that’s why we and more than 40 countries around the world are making sure that the Ukrainians can counter it.”

On the other hand, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said earlier in the week that the US goal was to weaken the Russian military so that it could no longer attack other countries. The US government is not talking about a change of course.

Biden speaks of “concerns”

Don’t attack Russia, Biden said. Rather, it is about helping Ukraine to defend itself against the Russian attack. The Russian side, on the other hand, had spoken of a proxy war in the past few days. And this despite the fact that the war started in Russia and not in the United States.

The statements made by the Russian side are being noticed in Washington. “That’s not true and that worries me,” Biden said. “Because that shows how desperate the Russians are because they didn’t achieve the goals they initially promised.”

Biden does not want to speak of “danger”, he says “worries”. But there are also voices in Washington who are again warning that the war being waged by the Russian leadership could – the longer it lasts – also spread to NATO territory.