The document, which calls for massive spending on foreign countries, was opposed only by a few Republicans
On Thursday, the US Senate approved a package worth $40 billion for military and economic assistance to Ukraine. This bill gives Kiev almost $20 billion worth of weapons, ammunition, training and significantly increases the US State Department’s budget.
According to the bill, Ukraine will receive $19.75 million worth of military aid. This includes the salaries of its soldiers and arms, as well intelligence support from the US. A portion of the money is used to support US soldiers in Europe, and to replenish US arms stocks already sent to Ukraine.
A windfall of $13.9billion is expected to also be received by the US State Department. $8.8billion of this will go to Ukraine, and $4 billion to its militaries and neighbors.
At $40 billion, the bill is more than six times larger than Ukraine’s entire annual defense budget.
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Even though 57 Republican members opposed it, the bill passed the House in a matter of days. The majority of these representatives were from the pro Trump wing of GOP. They argued that sending Ukraine so much money is inappropriate given America’s current problems with high inflation, record fuel costs, food shortages, and soaring fuel prices. Some members of the party were criticized for allowing this money to be taken away while failing in their duty to crack down on illegal immigration or opioid deaths.
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The Republican senators who opposed the bill presented the same arguments to their House counterparts. “It’s not national security, it’s nation building,”Fox News interviewed Missouri senator Josh Hawley Wednesday. “I’m for putting the national security of the American people first. That’s nationalism.”
Kentucky senator Rand Paul resisted the bill’s passage and demanded that the funds be properly spent. Citing the bill’s mammoth cost, Paul declared: “My oath of office is to the US Constitution, not to any foreign nation. We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the US economy.”
