Tag: Ukraine aid

Johnson and Schumer Spending Deal Ignores Biden’s $106 Billion Request for Israel, Ukraine Aid, and More

Just the News
Schumer Johnson

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s spending deal doesn’t include President Biden’s $106 billion request for a supplemental foreign aid package, Just the News has learned. Congress faces two appropriations deadlines of Jan. 19 and Feb. 2 before the federal government runs out of money.

The deal sets a top line for domestic and military spending through September 2024 at $1.59 trillion. The total reflects the parameters of the previously passed Financial Responsibility Act of 2023, which passed after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached a spending agreement with President Biden that raised the nation’s debt ceiling. 

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Biden Admin Seeks Long-Term Ukraine Aid Plan to Prevent Next President from Scaling Back Funding

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The Biden administration is seeking to hammer out a long-term Ukraine aid agreement with European allies in hopes of both preventing Russia from gaining an edge on the battlefield and hamstringing a future president’s ability to scale back U.S. commitments, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The scheme emerged during sideline talks among Group of Seven leaders at a NATO summit in July, and so far involves negotiations between the U.S. and Ukraine, and between the United Kingdom (U.K.) and Ukraine, according to the WSJ. It’s an attempt, in part, to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin he can simply wait until a new American administration, as several top GOP political contenders have expressed intention to reduce or eliminate U.S. aid that makes up the brunt of Western support.

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Pentagon to Buy $1.2 Billion in Weapons from Defense Contractors for Ukraine Aid

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The Pentagon announced plans Tuesday to buy $1.2 billion in weapons as part of an ongoing program to build up Ukraine’s military over the long term while it continues to provide for immediate battlefield needs.

The weapons, drawn from an authority called the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) allows the Department of Defense (DOD) to buy weapons and military equipment directly from defense companies and partners rather than drawing from existing U.S. stocks, according to a press release. Tuesday’s package includes air defense systems, ammunition and “support to enable Ukraine to better maintain its on-hand systems and equipment.”

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Hagerty, Blackburn: Tennessee’s MAGA Duo Votes Against Fast-Tracking $40 Billion Ukraine Bill

Neil W. McCabe

Tennessee’s two GOP senators were two of the 11 senators who voted May 16 against expediting a floor vote on President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s $40 billion aid package to Ukraine, H.R. 7691, known as the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2022—after both Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D.-N.Y.) and Minority Leader A. Mitchell “Mitch” McConnell (R.-Ky.) rejected Sen. Rand Paul (R.-Ky.)’s request for a special inspector general to monitor America’s largesse to the non-NATO country.

Sen. William F. “Bill” Hagerty IV, who was joined in voting against cloture for the bill by his Volunteer State colleague Sen. Marsha Blackburn, told “The Tennessee Star Report” host Michael Patrick Leahy that he is frustrated by President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s prioritizing other countries while he ignores problems at home.

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