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In a vote to approve the year-end budget and prevent a government shutdown, the US Congress approved $12. 3 billion in fresh aid to Ukraine on Friday.
With the help of this new aid package, US President Joe Biden can instruct the US Department of Defense to send Ukraine military hardware valued at $3. 7 billion.
The budget was passed by 230 deputies, including 10 Republicans, against 201 votes. It is classified as “temporary” and allows the federal state to spend more than the previously established budget maximum.
Additionally, it includes $4. 5 billion for Kyiv so that it can prevent budget overruns.
With this, the US has contributed $65 billion to the war effort in Ukraine.
A few hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin made the official announcement of the acquisition of four currently occupied regions of Ukraine, the fresh aid was approved.
According to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, “This new assistance is a testament to the United States’ confidence in Ukraine, and it will support crucial government functions and help to lessen the suffering of the Ukrainian people.”
She continued, urging “other donors to not only speed up the flow of funds to Ukraine, but to expand their aid” as well. “This funding is also intended to strengthen the courageous Ukrainian struggle against Putin’s aggressive war.”
The congressional action averts the possibility of technical unemployment, which would have prevented hundreds of thousands of federal workers from receiving pay in the event that non-essential services were shut down.
The Senate on Thursday passed this temporary budget, which permits state agencies to remain operational until December 16, by a comfortable margin of 72 to 25.
This budget also contains billions in aid to deal with recent disasters that have impacted a number of US states, as well as $1 billion in heating assistance for low-income families.
For a vote of this kind, the discussion of the bill was relatively calm since Congressmen wanted to get back to their districts as soon as possible for the November 8 midterm elections.
However, due to vehement opposition from Republicans, lawmakers rejected a request from the White House to give billions of dollars to combat the Covid-19 outbreak as well as monkeypox.
$12 billion in fresh aid to Ukraine is approved by Congress.
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