White House Budget Director Shalanda Young gives a press conference on September 29, 2023 (AFP / SAUL LOEB)
“We are running out of money and soon out of time”: According to the White House, American military aid to Ukraine could be drastically cut in the coming weeks due to the lack of a budget agreement with the Republican opposition.
“I want to be clear: If Congress does not act, we will run out of resources by the end of the year to deliver more weapons and equipment to Ukraine and material from American military stockpiles,” wrote White House Budget Director Shalanda Young. in a letter to Mike Johnson, the leader of the Republican-majority House of Representatives.
What sharply gave him back the ball on the social network, a way out of the conflict or how to monitor the use of American taxpayer money.
Shalanda Young’s letter was published at a time when Ukraine recognized the failure of its summer counteroffensive and Russia launched repeated attacks, particularly against the city of Avdiivka in the east of the country.
“There are no magic remedies to deal with the emergency. We are running out of money and soon we are running out of time,” affirms Shalanda Young in her letter.
Democratic President Joe Biden called on Congress on Oct. 20 to vote for an extraordinary amount of more than $100 billion to respond to current emergencies, namely to help Israel and Ukraine confront China and respond to the arrival of migrants at the southern border.
Of this, more than $60 billion must go to Ukraine, of which the USA has been by far the largest supporter since the Russian invasion at the end of February 2022.
“Disrupting the flow of American weapons and equipment would destroy Ukraine’s war effort, jeopardize Ukraine’s progress, and increase the likelihood of Russian victories,” Shalanda Young added.
“Our military aid deliveries have already declined,” she notes.
– “Is that now” –
“That won’t be a problem for next year. Now we must help democratic Ukraine fight against Russian aggression,” the budget director concludes.
The White House is seeking to ensure funding for aid to Ukraine at least through the November 2024 presidential election, which could see Joe Biden run again against former President Donald Trump.
Russian President Vladimir “Putin will not commit to peace until he sees the outcome of our election,” a senior American diplomat recently confided.
The United States is facing its biggest budget crisis in months due to endless parliamentary turmoil.
The Congress of the leading world power – consisting of the Senate with a Democratic majority and the House of Representatives with a Republican majority – has still not voted on a budget for the fiscal year that began on October 1st.
The federal government is currently functioning thanks to an emergency extension that expires in mid-January.
As Joe Biden solemnly proposed his enormous budget package, the House of Representatives descended into chaos due to disagreements within the Republican Party.
It has since gained a leader, or “speaker,” in Mike Johnson, who has allowed budget debates to resume.
Which therefore promises to be difficult.
The head of the conservative MPs is calling for a significant tightening of migration policy in view of the arrival of migrants at the border with Mexico in return for supporting a new package for Ukraine.
“Republican elected officials in the House want additional funding for our national security to start at our own border,” Mike Johnson said Monday.