Secretary Lloyd Austin appeared before the Senate Committee on Appropriations Tuesday where he told lawmakers that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “was not” exaggerating when he said that without the financial support of the United States and NATO, Ukraine will lose its war against Russia.
The Tuesday morning hearing, which also featured Secretary of State Antony Blinken, centered around President Joe Biden’s nearly $106 billion ask for security assistance to aid Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan while also funding security at the U.S.-Mexico border and providing general humanitarian aid.
The comments come in wake of House Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to move forward on a bill to provide over $14 billion aid for only Israel, funded by cuts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that were designated to the tax-collecting agency in Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act.
Blinken said allowing Russia to conquer Ukraine “would do both terrible harm to our values but also to our core interests” by allowing an aggressor to emerge victorious over a democratic country. Republicans hear Blinken and Austin’s sentiments, and many senators, including GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, want a comprehensive package. Others, however, back the Speaker’s decision, stressing their desire to see Israel and Ukraine handled separately.
Read more at Newsweek.com
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