Leaders of the United States Congress reached a bipartisan deal early Wednesday that will provide $13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine and European allies, plus billions more to fight the coronavirus pandemic. part of a $1.5 trillion government spending initiative that will fund federal agencies for the remainder of the year.
Although it is a small part of the vast initiative, the funds to respond to the Russian offensive that has devastated parts of Ukraine and caused the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. secured strong bipartisan support for the rule. President, Joe Bidenhad requested 10,000 million dollars for military, humanitarian and economic aid last week, and the Democratic and Republican support was such that the allocation increased to 12,000 million on Monday and rose to 13,600 a day later.
“We will support them against tyranny, oppression, violent acts of subjugation”Biden declared at the White House.
Leaders had hoped to pass the 2,741-page measure in the House of Representatives on Wednesday and in the Senate by the end of the week, though the exact timetable in the upper house was unclear. Legislators were motivated by the urgency to help Ukraine before Moscow’s military might makes it too late.
They also faced a Friday deadline to pass the government-wide spending measure or face a Election Year Weekend Federal Shutdown. To avoid delays, the House of Representatives was scheduled to pass a bill on Wednesday that would keep the agencies afloat until March 15.
More than $4 billion of aid to Ukraine has gone to help the country and Eastern European nations cope with the 2 million refugees who have already fled the fighting. Others $6.7 billion was spent on deploying US troops and equipment to the region and transferring US military items to Ukraine and US allies. Economic aid and money were also earmarked for economic sanctions against Russia.
(With information from AP)
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Source-www.infobae.com