Posted Sep 29, 2022, 9:56 PMUpdated on Sep 29, 2022 at 9:57 PM
The US Senate voted, on Thursday, a new envelope of more than 12 billion dollars for Ukraine during the adoption of an extension to the federal budget of the United States until December. The text, approved in the afternoon by senators from both camps, includes a large military component for kyiv, at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing to formalize the annexation by Russia of four Ukrainian regions .
Some 3 billion dollars have thus been released by the United States to train, equip and pay Ukrainian troops. The package also includes more than $4.5 billion to ensure Ukraine’s “continuity of government” and meet Kyiv’s macroeconomic needs.
Replenish armament stocks
Several billion dollars will also be allocated to the American army, which will use them in particular to finance the deployment of troops in neighboring countries and to replenish its stocks of armaments. “Seven months into the conflict, it’s clear that US aid has done a lot to help the Ukrainian people resist Putin’s vicious aggression,” Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday.
“But the fight is far from over, and we must continue to help the courageous and valiant Ukrainian people,” he pleaded from the hemicycle. This new envelope would bring to more than 65 billion dollars the aid provided by the United States to Ukraine since the beginning of the year. It must now be submitted to the vote of the elected representatives of the House of Representatives, before being promulgated by the American president Joe Biden.
Afghan refugees, water crisis
This large envelope was attached to the American federal budget for the year 2022, which the senators had to extend at all costs before Friday evening, to avoid a drying up of state finances. This situation – the famous “shutdown” – is extremely unpopular in the United States, because it would have forced hundreds of thousands of federal employees into technical unemployment. Democrats and Republicans alike wanted to avoid this mess at all costs, 40 days before the midterm legislative elections.
If this text is validated by the House of Representatives, the American federal budget will be extended until December 16, 2022. Within this financing law, provision has also been made for an envelope for Afghan refugees, another for allowances winter heating for low-income families, as well as help for Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, which suffered a serious running water crisis.
SourceAFP
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