“History will bear witness,” Biden said on television, repeating the phrase five times.
“Supporting this bill is confronting Putin. Opposing it is playing into Putin’s hands,” the Democrat added.
He also attacked his predecessor Donald Trump after the former president said that, if he won the presidential election in the United States, he would not defend NATO countries that are in arrears with their payments.
“One of the presidents of a great country stood up and said ‘Well sir, if we don’t pay and Russia attacks us, will you protect us?'” Trump said before revealing his response: “No, I wouldn’t protect them, in fact I would encourage them to do so.” whatever they want. They must pay their debts,” he asserted.
Trump said on Tuesday that countries that owe debt to NATO are making fun of the United States. “Since my statements about NATO, everyone is starting to pay again!”
Biden’s reaction
“It’s silly. It’s shameful. It’s dangerous. It’s un-American,” Biden said from the White House.
“When he looks at NATO, he doesn’t see the alliance that protects the United States and the world. He sees a fraud,” he added. “No other president in our history has ever bowed to a Russian dictator.”
But House Speaker Mike Johnson turned a deaf ear to Biden’s onslaught, telling reporters that he does not even intend to allow a vote on the bill.
“No way,” he declared.
On Monday, Johnson criticized the bill for “remaining silent on the most pressing problem” in the country, the immigration crisis on the border between the United States and Mexico, which is already affecting large cities and budgets becoming a heavy burden on taxpayers. .
Conservatives condition the adoption of funds for kyiv on new immigration measures, but they vetoed the bipartisan agreement on a more restrictive policy that Democrats had reached with a group of Republicans. They consider it too lax.
The Senate gave the green light to a new $95 billion package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but its adoption depends on Trump’s supporters in the House of Representatives.
“The luxury of waiting”
“We can no longer afford to wait,” Democratic President Joe Biden urged.
In an election year, the issue pits Biden against Trump, his likely rival in the November presidential elections.
Biden demands the approval of $60 billion for Ukraine, at war with Russia for almost two years. He added an allocation of 14 billion for Israel and funds for Taiwan.
“If we do not confront the tyrants who seek to conquer or divide the territory of their neighbors, the consequences for the national security of the United States will be considerable. Both our allies and our adversaries will take note,” Biden insisted.
Trump opposes the package debated in Congress by estimating that the United States should “stop giving money without expecting to be reimbursed.” The funds are funded by American taxpayers.
He claims that if he returns to the White House he will resolve the war between Russia and Ukraine “within 24 hours.” But so far he hasn’t explained how.
Rain of criticism
However, he is the one who has the final say in negotiations in Congress. Without the support of the Republicans, who control the Lower House by a narrow margin, and especially without Trump’s entourage, the text is destined to fail.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his satisfaction with the Senate’s support.
“For us in Ukraine, continued American aid saves human lives from Russian terror” as we “fight for freedom and democracy,” he declared on the social network X.
The continuation of military aid to Ukraine, interrupted since the end of December, depends on this text negotiated in Congress.
Democrats are, by and large, in favor.
Republicans are divided between Trump’s supporters and allies, who are much more isolationist.
And Trump’s influence in the Republican Party is overwhelming.
On Monday, Senator Lindsey Graham, until now one of the Republicans in favor of helping Kiev, announced that he would oppose it because he prefers a loan system “as President Trump has suggested.”
Source: With information from AFP
