Welcome news, but no substitute for the billions in aid Ukraine desperately needs to fight war criminal Putin:
The Biden administration said Tuesday that it will send an additional $300 million in security assistance to Ukraine, an “extraordinary measure” being taken as President Biden’s request for billions of dollars more remains stalled in Congress.
The emergency package, announced by the White House, will be funded by “unanticipated cost savings” from contracts the Pentagon had brokered to replace weapons previously provided to Ukraine, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters. The aid will include artillery shells, anti-armor weapons, antiaircraft Stinger weapons and other arms, as well as spare parts, U.S. officials said.
The munitions include medium-range cluster rounds from the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, which Ukrainian forces have used repeatedly to target Russian headquarters units and troop formations, a senior U.S. official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The United States has previously sent the rounds, which have a range of about 100 miles. U.S. officials declined to say whether they also are sending long-range ATACMs munitions, which Ukrainian officials have sought for months.
“It is assistance that Ukraine desperately needs to hold the line against Russian attacks and to push back against the continued Russian onslaught in the east and in other parts of Ukraine,” Sullivan said.
A pause to remember how we got here:
Ukraine’s momentum in the war, now in its third year, has begun to flag as its front-line units face dwindling weapons supplies and Russian forces make a renewed push to break through defensive positions. In his State of the Union address last week, Biden implored lawmakers to pass legislation that would unlock an additional $60 billion to assist the government in Kyiv, but the bill, which also includes money meant to help Israel and counter China, has stalled amid a bitter debate in the Republican-led House.
The $95 billion measure passed the Senate on a bipartisan basis in February, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has refused to hold a vote on it. His tenuous hold on the speakership has come under threat from members of his party who have sought to condition any additional aid for Ukraine on the adoption of new immigration measures that Democrats say are too severe. Former president Donald Trump also has encouraged House Republicans not to pass the bill, despite the significant bipartisan support it has in the Senate... (our emphasis)
Smarmy Christian nationalist Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson and his Republican Putin caucus have played with Ukraine's desperate need for munitions for far too long. Democrats are now moving forward with a discharge petition to force a vote in the House:
U.S. House of Representatives Democrats began collecting signatures on Tuesday for a potential bid to sidestep Republican Speaker Mike Johnson and force a vote on a $95 billion security assistance package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
A spokesperson for Representative Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the powerful House Rules Committee, said he had filed a discharge petition on Tuesday morning and had started to collect signatures.
McGovern filed legislation on Feb. 15 that could be used as a vehicle for the discharge petition, a rarely used procedural tool that eventually could force a vote on the bill if at least 218 House members - a majority of the chamber's 435 voting members - sign it.
Months after Democratic President Joe Biden asked Congress to approve more foreign security assistance, the Senate last month approved the package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and to replenish U.S. weapons stocks by an overwhelming 70-30 vote. Twenty-two Republicans joined most Democrats in voting "aye."...
