President Joe Biden has signed into law a bill that provides much-needed security assistance to United States’ allies, including Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
“It’s going to make America safer. It’s going to make the world safer. And it continues America’s leadership in the world,” Biden said during a briefing following the signing ceremony. “It gives vital support to America’s partners so they can defend themselves against threats to their sovereignty and the lives and freedom of their citizens.”
The president said that the security supplemental, worth about $95 billion, is not just an investment in the security of U.S. partners around the world, but also in U.S. security at home and abroad.
“This is directly in the United States’ national security interest,” Biden said. He warned that if Putin triumphs in Ukraine, the next move of Russian forces could very well be a direct attack on a NATO ally.
If that happened, the U.S., as a NATO partner, would be bound to assist, Biden said.
“We’d have no choice but to come to their aid, just like our NATO allies came to our aid after the September 11 attacks,” he said. “That’s why we’re supporting and surging support now to Ukraine, to stop Putin from drawing the United States into a war in Europe.”
A major portion of expenditures in the security supplemental package, more than $60 billion, is for support to Ukraine. Biden said that assistance will begin to flow immediately, initially as part of a new package of security assistance through presidential draw down authority, which involves military equipment pulled from existing U.S. inventory.
The package also includes some $14.1 billion to support Israel; $8 billion for partners in the Indo-Pacific region, including Taiwan; and $9.5 billion for humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and other populations caught in conflict zones.
After prolonged political battle, US Congress passed the bipartisan Bill on $95 billion foreign security aid package Tuesday night.
Copyright © 2024, RTTNews.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
