Signs of Progress on Ukraine Aid
Author: Greg Valliere
March 15, 2024
CONSERVATIVE HOUSE SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON indicated yesterday that he will move legislation soon — with help from Democrats — that could provide fresh U.S. aid to Ukraine. His proposal may differ from the Senate-passed version, but it’s a major sign of progress.
THE GRIDLOCK IN CONGRESS may be breaking, as members finally near completion of budget bills — probably by the March 22 deadline; five of the six remaining spending measures are close to passage.
THE ONE REMAINING BILL would be the enormously controversial Homeland Security package, which may have to be considered separately. That measure has stalled, as prospects fade for winning enactment before the November elections.
JOHNSON IS STILL ON THIN ICE with his ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus members, but there’s overwhelming support in the House for sending aid to Ukraine, and decent backing for aid to Israel despite widespread grumbling on Capitol Hill about Benjamin Netanyahu.
A UKRAINE PACKAGE could send as much as $60 billion to Ukraine, some in the form of a loan or lend-lease program so U.S. taxpayers would not be shelling out tens of billions of dollars without any expectation of getting a return, according to senators who participated in discussions with Johnson.
AND THE BILL COULD AUTHORIZE the confiscation of Russian sovereign assets in the West, with the proceeds of liquidated property going into a Ukraine support fund, senators said. The dollar amount of this might be less than $1 billion, but some type of loan provision would make the bill easier to sell back home.
JOHNSON REFLECTED THE MOOD of the House yesterday when he said “no one wants Vladimir Putin to prevail. I’m of the opinion that he wouldn’t stop at Ukraine … and he could go all the way through Europe,” Johnson said. “There is a right and wrong there, a good versus evil in my view, and Ukraine is the victim here.”
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