Congress unveiled on Tuesday a massive $1.7 trillion omnibus funding bill that includes $45 billion in new Ukraine aid, which will bring total US spending on the war to about $112 billion.
The $45 billion is over $7 billion more than the $37.7 billion in Ukraine aid that the White House asked Congress to authorize before the next congressional session begins in January.
According to a summary of the new Ukraine aid, the $45 billion includes $9 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which allows the US to purchase arms for Kyiv and funds other types of support, including training and intelligence sharing.
The aid includes $11.8 billion to replenish US military stockpiles that have been sent to Ukraine. US European Command will get $6.98 billion for “mission support, intelligence support, pay, equipment, and related activities.” The US is set to open a new command in Germany dedicated entirely to overseeing the training and arming of Ukrainian forces.
Other types of aid include $13.37 billion for economic assistance and direct budgetary support and $2.47 billion for humanitarian aid. When it comes to oversight, the new aid includes $6 million for the Pentagon’s Inspector General and requires an IG report on the new funds.
The 4,155-page $1.7 trillion omnibus bill includes the funds for the $858 billion National Defense Authorization Act, which has been passed through Congress and is expected to be signed by President Biden sometime this week. Congress needs to pass the omnibus bill by December 23 to avoid a government shutdown.
The NDAA will allow the US to arm Ukraine even more as it includes another $800 million in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. The NDAA will also grant the Pentagon wartime purchasing powers by allowing non-competitive, multi-year contracts for certain arms. The authority could be used to refill US stockpiles, arm Ukraine, and assist foreign governments that have provided support for Ukraine.
I talk to people in the world, and everyone is oblivious. I despair for Humanity, for we are stupid as sh!t.
We really do deserve to be wiped out, Edward. Excepting those of us who frequent AW, of course 😉
Not so sure about ‘those of us who frequent AW’, because I have observed a lot here, LOL. 🙂
Well, yes, there are a certain few 😉
I adore you Gypsy! I do but dear-heart, do you really believe we should be wiped out?….
I think it would be excellent if we could read the future, then we could step back from ourselves and view the death and destruction, the earth over…
Humanity still has a chance……?………..?……………!
Donna I adore you too and your sense of optimism! I’m a bit more pessimistic about humankind’s future UNLESS we have what would amount to a worldwide revolt against our institutions, Amerikkka being the first, hopefully followed by the EU. If there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that we can somehow get some peace-lovers in charge of our regimes, there just might be hope for us.
Unfortunately I’m not holding my breath 😔
This number simply boggles one’s mind. I can’t even wrap my head around it: all those billions and billions employed to sow death and destruction, when there is so much GOOD it could do for the world.
I guess feeding starving people isn’t as glamorous to the Amerikkkan regime as war.
1 – they are thinking the planet is overpopulated.
2 – they hope, by investing in the war in Ukraine, they are making Russia weaker.
3 – they are moving the taxpayers money to their own pockets. No secret that Congress is representing the interests of MIC.
Check out the statistics on what age group of Americans have succumbed the most to C19. Of the thousands who have died this year. something like 92% are 65+. You know, the folks some call “useless feeders”. WSWS: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/12/13/pers-d13.html
Yup, V, I’m one of ‘em 😐
And all unaudited.
Not billions, trillions now. So much suffering in grocery aisles up and down the country. My local Walmart having empty reduced bakery shelves, Costco selling out of eggs, $10 a dozen eggs at Safeway, homeless camping out in front the same stores begging for food in the cold and urinating into the landscaping at the grocery parking lot. Just some of what I witnessed in the past week in my sleepy city days before Christmas. And yet, BILLIONS more for war profiteers and any calls for peace denounced. Congress is beyond broken.
For the war profiteers it can’t get better. How many Ukrainians will have to die to justify that much money and how much longer? What is the price for Ukrainian annihilation? What is it Americans expect to gain other than the profits.
For the profiteers this is the land where milk and honey form a river.
The Ukrainians lost, there is nothing to win left. Membership and NATO? This war will be the end of NATO, the EU will be gone, there will be no way to fund a NATO.
Here’s a list of sources that support your position. https://duckduckgo.com/?t=lm&q=end+of+nato&ia=web
Thanks for the link. Consortium News at the to p of the list I seldom miss, but Feb. was long ago.
I really, really want to stomp on Joe’s aviator sunglasses!
“Wartime purchasing power”?… I’m slightly jealous… Of course, I wouldn’t fund wars… I’D FUND PARTIES FOR EVERYONE!
For all those billions and trillions, the entire world could stay lit up for a heck of a long time… (In a good way, of course…..)
I’m in, Donna! 😁
Or a permanent endowment for HBCUs could be established forever.
A healthy cynic?………………………….. 😉
Donna, I’m gettin’ me a brand new hip next month, so I’ll be dancing at that party! I’ll teach y’all the two-step 😁
And Wars, you’re my dancin’ partner, like it or not 😉
Biden’s insanity has only one opponent. Isn’t it ironic that the Russian people are the ones we have to call on to be the adults in the room.
The New York City housing authority estimates that over $40 billion is required to fully address the repair backlog needs of its public housing, and this figure could grow to nearly $70 billion by 2028. This $45 billion is a criminal waste of public money.
Americans need to sacrifice more for those goodies Wash. gets from the war industry. You should know that by now.
Plenty of pigs feeding at the trough.
The good thing about that AJ is they produce a lot of Methane and expel it into the atmosphere and contribute to global warming…
Strange how it always seems to get emitted through the wrong end…
That will just be more black market weapons the US taxpayer is paying for ending up to kill more Africans. Those weapons are appearing in sub-Sahara Africa according to Nigeria’s president.He warned that weapons and ammunition used in the war in Ukraine are winding up in the hands of “terrorists” in the Lake Chad region of Africa. President Muhammadu Buhari made the comments last week from the Nigerian capital of Abuja.
AND THE MSM IS SILENT ON THIS. EVEN SOME SOURCES SAID THE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA IS A LIAR.
Of course, we must believe a source like the MSM with its proven track record of lying, and not President Buhari.
Big Rx got their mega payoff, now its the war industry’s turn to get anointed with billions. Next will be the insurance corps.? Hey, it’s payback time in Wash. (with our stolen wages). Want a government? You got one. Republics are a symbiosis of wealth and power, exchanging more wealth and power to business and government. It’s a vicious cycle of death, theft and destruction that’s visited on those who pay for it all. Wait ’till WWIII if you don’t believe it.
Impeach Biden.
Don’t worry. There will be a new slogan in 3 years.
Impeach DeSantis
The slogan will be modified every 4 years.
I really worry about the fact that it appears that there are no rational actors manipulating the ramshackle controls of this rampaging death-machine. The stupid leading the ignorant.