{"id":3003,"date":"2023-12-10T20:09:24","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T00:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/?p=3003"},"modified":"2023-12-10T20:09:26","modified_gmt":"2023-12-11T00:09:26","slug":"zelenskyy-will-meet-biden-at-the-white-house-amid-a-stepped-up-push-for-congress-to-approve-more-aid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/?p=3003","title":{"rendered":"Zelenskyy will meet Biden at the White House amid a stepped-up push for Congress to approve more aid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Joe Biden and Ukraine\u2019s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, will meet at the White House on Tuesday as the U.S. administration<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>steps up the pressure<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>on Congress to provide<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>billions more in aid to Kyiv<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>in its<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>war with Russia<\/a><\/span>.<\/span>

The visit is intended \u201cto underscore the United States\u2019 unshakeable commitment to supporting the people of Ukraine as they defend themselves against Russia\u2019s brutal invasion,\u201d the White House said in a statement Sunday. \u201cAs Russia ramps up its missile and drone strikes against Ukraine, the leaders will discuss Ukraine\u2019s urgent needs and the vital importance of the United States\u2019 continued support at this critical moment.\u201d<\/p>

Zelenskyy\u2019s office confirmed that he had accepted Biden\u2019s invitation. He also has been asked to speak to a meeting of all senators.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden has asked Congress for a $110 billion package of wartime funding for Ukraine ($61.4 billion) and Israel, along with other national security priorities. But the request is caught up in a debate over U.S. immigration policy and border security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zelenskyy traveled to Buenos Aires\u00a0to witness\u00a0the swearing-in\u00a0on Sunday of Argentina\u2019s new president, Javier Milei. The Ukrainian leader had been scheduled to address U.S. senators by video last week, but had to cancel the appearance, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congress already has allocated $111 billion to assist Ukraine, and Biden\u2019s budget director, Shalanda Young,\u00a0said in a letter\u00a0this past week to House and Senate leaders that the U.S. will run out of funding to send weapons and assistance to Ukraine by the end of the year, which would \u201ckneecap\u201d Ukraine on the battlefield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time to cut a deal that both sides can agree to,\u201d Young said Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stakes are especially high for Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during two television interviews Sunday, given that \u201c\u00a0we are running out of funding\u00a0\u201d for the Ukrainians. \u201cThis is a time to really step up because if we don\u2019t, we know what happens. (Russian President Vladimir) Putin will be able to move forward with impunity and we know he won\u2019t stop in Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, he\u00a0defended the emergency sale\u00a0to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition and also called for quick congressional approval of the foreign assistance. Blinken said the needs of\u00a0Israel\u2019s military operations in Gaza\u00a0justify the rare decision to bypass Congress. \u201cIsrael is in combat right now with Hamas,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we want to make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against Hamas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tank ammunition and related support constitute only a small portion of military sales to Israel, Blinken said, and that the rest remains subject to congressional review. \u201cIt\u2019s very important that Congress\u2018 voice be heard in this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision to proceed with the sale of more than $106 million for tank shells came as the administration\u2019s larger aid package is caught up in a larger immigration debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blinken noted that Biden has said he is willing to make\u00a0significant compromises\u00a0to get the aid package moving. “It\u2019s something the president is fully prepared to engage on,\u201d Blinken said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said there is bipartisan agreement that something has to be done to address record numbers of migrants crossing into the United States from Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to solve that, to secure the border. I just saw the president of the United States say that we\u2019ve got to secure the border. He\u2019s right. So, any effort that doesn\u2019t do that will be rejected by Republicans,\u201d Romney said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, said the administration has yet to justify additional aid to Ukraine. \u201cSo what we\u2019re saying to the president and really to the entire world is, you need to articulate what the ambition is. What is $61 billion going to accomplish that $100 billion hasn\u2019t?\u201d Vance said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said the money would make a difference because Russia is struggling to fund its war effort. \u201cIt can change the outcome of this war,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cBecause at the very same time that we are making a renewed commitment to Ukraine, Russia\u2019s ability to continue to fight this war is in jeopardy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romney said he also supports the aid to Ukraine. \u201cMy own view is that it\u2019s very much in America\u2019s interest to see Ukraine successful and to provide the weapons that Ukraine needs to defend itself. Anything other than that would be a huge dereliction of our responsibility, I believe, to the world of democracy but also to our own national interest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blinken appeared on ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week\u201d and CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union.\u201d Romney and Murphy were on NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press.\u201d Vance was on CNN. Young was on CBS\u2019 \u201cFace the Nation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Joe Biden and Ukraine\u2019s lea […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3003"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3005,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3003\/revisions\/3005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}