- cross-posted to:
- worldnews@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- worldnews@lemmy.ml
Archived link: https://archive.is/6GIr3
The White House has issued a blunt warning that the US is set to run out of funds to aid Ukraine by the end of the year, saying that a failure by Congress to approve new support would “kneecap” Kyiv.
The alert from Shalanda Young, the White House budget director, in a letter to congressional leaders on Monday, represented the most specific assessment yet of Washington’s waning financial and military support for Ukraine.
“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 US military stocks,” Young wrote to political leaders of both parties.
“There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of money — and nearly out of time,” she said. President Joe Biden’s request for $106bn in emergency funding for his biggest foreign policy priorities, including Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific, remains mired in stalemate on Capitol Hill, driven by mounting Republican opposition to helping Kyiv.
Some lawmakers — especially in the Senate, where backing for Ukraine runs deeper — are trying to negotiate a bipartisan deal that would contain aid for Kyiv alongside new immigration and asylum procedures to reduce the number of undocumented people arriving in the US through its southern border.
Even if an agreement is reached in the Senate, however, it is unclear if it can pass the Republican-led House, whose new speaker Mike Johnson has been sceptical of funding for Ukraine.
“Cutting off the flow of US weapons and equipment will kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield, not only putting at risk the gains Ukraine has made, but increasing the likelihood of Russian military victories,” Young wrote to Congress.
“Already, our packages of security assistance have become smaller and the deliveries of aid have become more limited . . . while our allies around the world have stepped up to do more, US support is critical and cannot be replicated by others,” she added.
The White House warning comes as EU member states are struggling to reach a budget deal in Brussels that would send €50bn to Ukraine, people close to the discussions told the Financial Times.
Young said Ukraine also needed economic support, which is in danger of stalling. “If Ukraine’s economy collapses, they will not be able to keep fighting, full stop,” she wrote. “Putin understands this well, which is why Russia has made destroying Ukraine’s economy central to its strategy — which you can see in its attacks against Ukraine’s grain exports and energy infrastructure,” she added. Young also said money for Ukraine would bring benefits to the US economy. Since the start of Russia’s full invasion in February 2022, Washington has approved $111bn in aid to Kyiv.
“While we cannot predict exactly which US companies will be awarded new contracts, we do know the funding will be used to acquire advanced capabilities to defend against attacks on civilians in Israel and Ukraine — for example, air defense systems built in Alabama, Texas, and Georgia and vital subcomponents sourced from nearly all 50 states,” she said.
Bruh no. This is the exact same reasoning that got Japanese Americans interned in camps during WWII.
While it is true that some American Jews may have sympathy towards Israel because it is an ostensibly Jewish state, there's also famously a schism between American Jews and Israelis over Palestine. Not to mention that the proportion of US ruling class that support Israel coming from wackjob Christians who think Israel is religious prophecy and garden variety white supremacists are both likely to be much larger factors than some US decision makers being Jewish.
This kind of logic also absolves Israel of its culpability in meddling in the US policitsl system via powerful lobbying, which is fully capable of sinking political careers with false allegations of antisemitism.
Yeah that makes sense. I just don't get the us support of Israel. It's manic at this point. You already control Saudi and the oil. Is Israel your ace for if your control of the region slips , which Israel obviously can't fix
Israel is one of the knives the US holds at the throats of the Arab states to keep them in line. Without Israel, many Arab states would not need to spend as much on American weapons or allow American bases.
While I think any support of Israel is too much support, it's also helpful to keep in mind that the US has never committed large amounts of troops to defending Israel whereas it has gone boots on the ground for full ground wars for both South Korea and South Vietnam.