The Biden Administration announced on Thursday a request for Congress to approve $40 billion in additional spending. This request includes $24 billion for Ukraine and other international needs, $4 billion related to border security, and $12 billion for disaster relief.
This announcement comes at a time when the U.S. has already seen its fair share of fiscal issues. The USA’s credit rating has dropped, inflation has risen, and gas prices are rising.
So it is understandable that some members of Congress are hesitant to approve these additional sums of money. However, the White House is confident that these funds are necessary and that Congress can agree on the request.
The $24 billion for Ukraine and other international needs is of particular importance. Since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, the U.S. has sent billions in assistance to the nation. However, Republicans are attempting to pare back this assistance in an effort to stop rampant government spending. Despite this, it appears that many in the uniparty are siding with Biden and have expressed support for additional funding, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, claims there is strong bipartisan support for the proposal.
To put this rampant spending in perspective, on April 28, 2017, the New York Times reported on a Senate Democrat “study” stating that the southern border wall then-President Trump wanted to be built was too expensive because it was going to cost “nearly $70 billion to build and $150 million a year to maintain.”
“The wall is, in my view, immoral, expensive, unwise, and when the president says, ‘Well, I promised a wall during my campaign.’ I don’t think he said he was going to pass billions of dollars of cost of the wall on to the taxpayer,” Rep. Nancy Pelosi said at the time.
Since the war in Ukraine broke out, the United States has given Ukraine roughly $75 billion in assistance.
Biden is only asking for $4 billion related to border security and $12 billion for disaster relief.
New White House funding request:
$24 billion for Ukraine
$4 billion for US border/fentanyl/immigrationThoughts? https://t.co/ndsn4KiV4n
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) August 10, 2023
