Good Thursday evening. Did you know Rob Reiner is getting the band back together for a sequel to “This Is Spinal Tap”? How much more funny could it be? Fingers crossed.
Senate Approves $40 Billion Aid Package for Ukraine
The Senate approved a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine Thursday, sending the bill to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it shortly. The vote was 86 to 11, with all the no votes coming from Republicans.
The bill was delayed for a week by Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who questioned the bill’s constitutionality and cost, and who wanted the legislation to include language appointing an independent inspector general to oversee the funding. While Paul’s delaying tactics were ultimately unsuccessful, the senator remained defiant Thursday, tweeting, “If Congress really believed giving Ukraine $40B was in our national interest, they could easily pay for it by taxing every income taxpayer $500. My guess is they choose to borrow the $ [because] Americans might just decide they need the $500 more to pay for gas.”
The 10 other Republican senators who voted against the bill were Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, John Boozman of Arkansas, Mike Braun of Indiana, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Mike Lee of Utah, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
The politics of the vote: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) accused the bill’s Republican opponents of siding with the isolationist wing of the party led by Donald Trump, to the detriment of American national interests. “It appears more and more MAGA Republicans are on the same soft-on-Putin playbook that we saw used by former President Trump,” Schumer said. “Our adversaries might conclude that we’re divided — America is divided. They might conclude that we lack purpose.”
Still, a majority of Republicans voted in favor of the bill, joining Democrats to support Ukraine following its invasion by Russia and signaling their distance from the isolationists on the matter. “Today the Senate will approve more lethal assistance for Ukraine, and it’s going to be a big bipartisan landslide. I encourage every senator on both sides to join this bipartisan supermajority,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Thursday morning. “The most expensive and painful thing America could possibly do in the long run would be to stop investing in sovereignty, stability and deterrence before it’s too late.”
McConnell added: “Anyone concerned about the cost of supporting a Ukrainian victory should consider the much larger cost should Ukraine lose.”
Biden commended lawmakers for passing the aid package. “I applaud the Congress for sending a clear bipartisan message to the world that the people of the United States stand together with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their democracy and freedom,” the president said in a statement. “The resources that I requested will allow us to send even more weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, replenish our own stockpile, and support U.S. troops stationed on NATO territory.”
What’s in the bill: The $40 billion aid package dwarfs previous U.S. efforts to assist Ukraine, which is approaching its fourth month of war against Russian forces. Substantially exceeding the $33 billion originally requested by the White House, the package provides both military and humanitarian assistance, including:
* $6 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provides “training, equipment, weapons, logistics support, supplies and services, salaries and stipends, sustainment, and intelligence support to the military and national security forces of Ukraine,” according to a fact sheet from the House Appropriations Committee,
* $9 billion to replenish arms sent to Ukraine from U.S. stockpiles,
* $3.9 billion to support U.S. and allied troops in Europe,
* $8 billion in economic support for Ukraine;
* $5 billion in food aid, in response to possible shortages worldwide caused by the war,
* $900 million to support refugees from the war.
More aid likely: With the war in Ukraine expected to continue for months, many lawmakers think Congress will move to provide additional aid.
“I’m sure there will be more to come,” said Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), who sits on the Appropriations Committee. “If the war goes on, it’s going to cost. Weapons — they use them up every day. We can’t turn our backs on them.”
As if to prove the point, soon after the Senate passed the $40 billion aid package, the Biden administration announced the release of another $100 million in military assistance for Ukraine, including additional artillery and radar equipment.
Quote of the Day
“Recession risks are high — uncomfortably high — and rising. For the economy to navigate through without suffering a downturn, we need some very deft policymaking from the Fed and a bit of luck.”
– Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, in a Washington Post story about the mounting recession warnings from economists and bankers.
Dem Hopes for Renewed Climate and Tax Bill Rest With Two Men
Memorial Day is rapidly approaching — and with it an informal deadline set by some Democrats for deciding whether or how they can look to pass a party-line package containing much of their climate and economic agenda.
Politico’s Burgess Everett writes that the fate of that bill largely rests with a pair of lawmakers now: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). The two reportedly met Wednesday to discuss the bill and how to fight inflation, with Democrats deciding to leave the talks in Schumer’s hands.
“Manchin still signals he’s up for a deal,” Everett reports. “He’s outlined what he supports — raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy, plowing money into energy and climate development, deficit reduction and lowering drug prices. Manchin’s and Schumer’s staffs are having ‘substantive conversations’ about the contents of a package like that, according to a person familiar with the talks.”
Those conversations haven’t yet yielded a deal, or even a framework. Schumer on Wednesday told Politico that the two have made progress but have more to do. “I’m feeling decent,” he said.
Yet some Democrats “say they don’t really understand why, if Manchin is ready for a deal, there isn’t a piece of paper in front of them,” Everett writes.
And with time running out, Manchin acknowledged to Politico that nothing much is happening at the moment. Other lawmakers reportedly have given up hope that an agreement will be struck and worry about getting bogged down in another prolonged negotiation that produces no result.
Manchin, though, reportedly hasn’t bought into the idea of a summer deadline, and he instead pointed to September 30, after which Democrats would lose the ability to pass something a party-line bill. “If we get the right piece of legislation that’s able to fight inflation, give us energy independence. And we’re able to do it in the cleanest fashion possible with a reduction in emissions? That’s a win-win for everybody,” Manchin said. “So I don’t know how you put a time limit on that if you can do it right.”
Read the full story at Politico.
Send your feedback to yrosenberg@thefiscaltimes.com. And please encourage your friends to sign up here for their own copy of this newsletter.
News
- U.S. Deepens Ukraine Commitment With $40 Billion in Aid, Expanded NATO – Washington Post
- Biden Authorizes $100 Million in Weapons, Equipment to Ukraine – The Hill
- House Passes Bill Targeting Alleged Price Gouging Amid High Gas Prices – CNN
- Manchin Blasts Biden Energy Policies at Budget Hearing – The Hill
- Grants for Restaurants, Small Businesses Blocked in Senate – Roll Call
- Senate Passes Bill to Improve Access to Baby Formula for Families in Need – CNN
- Leadership of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Say They’ll Oppose Linking Coronavirus Funds to Keeping a Trump-Era Border Policy – Politico
- FDA Refuses to Tell Congress Why Infant Formula Response Took Months – Politico
- “A Lot of Unnecessary Loss of Life”: The White House’s Dire Warning on COVID-19 Funding – Vox
- Fed to Plow Ahead on Half-Point Hikes, Undeterred by Stock Slump – Bloomberg
- Yellen Rejects Idea of Fed Raising 2% Inflation Target – Bloomberg
- New Jobless Claims Start to Climb Again – Axios
- A Worker Shortage Is Driving US Nursing Homes to the Brink of Collapse – Bloomberg
- C.D.C. Advisers Recommended Pfizer Boosters for Children 5 to 11 – New York Times
- Census Likely Miscounted the Population of 14 States, a Review Finds – New York Times
Views and Analysis
- Congress Has Time for UFOs — but Not for Pandemic Funding – Washington Post Editorial Board
- The US Needs to Get Real About Taxes and Inflation – Bloomberg Editors
- Psst: Republicans Don’t Have a Plan to Fight Inflation, Either – Catherine Rampell, Washington Post
- The War in Ukraine Is Getting Complicated, and America Isn’t Ready – New York Times Editorial Board
- Age of Scarcity Begins With $1.6 Trillion Hit to World Economy – Maeva Cousin, Tom Orlik and Bryce Baschuk, Bloomberg
- Senate Republicans Want Your Cleaning Lady to Pay Income Tax, but Not FedEx – Timothy Noah, The New Republic
- How Cash Payments Changed Low-Income Americans’ Lives – Sarah Holder and Susan Berfield, Bloomberg
- The Bears Come for Powell and the Fed – Ben White, Kate Davidson and Aubree Eliza Weaver, Politico
- How Covid Complacency and Ideology Killed 1 Million Americans – Michael Gerson, Washington Post