Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is planning to tell Democrat President Joe Biden and Congress that the earmarked $45 billion of aid for Ukraine in the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill is not enough.
Zelensky arrived in the United States Wednesday afternoon and is scheduled to address Congress this evening, around 7.30 pm.
The address follows a speech he made virtually to American lawmakers in March, weeks into the war.
During his virtual statement, Zelensky invoked the attack on Pearl Harbor and urged the United States to do more to help his country.
Congress is weighing whether to pass the massive $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill.
The massive spending package designates $45 billion in economic and military aid for Ukraine.
The $45 billion is in addition to the $66 billion of taxpayers’ money that lawmakers have already approved for Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Zelensky released a video revealing he will tell Biden and Congress that $45 billion is still not enough support.
“We are not in an easy situation,” he said about the Ukrainian war.
“The enemy is increasing its army.
“Our people are braver and need more powerful weapons.
“We will pass it on from the boys to the Congress, to the president of the United States.
“We are grateful for their support, but it is not enough.
“It is a hint — it is not enough.”
Zelensky’s claim that $45 billion is not enough aid – on top of the already approved $66 billion – comes as the omnibus bill is expected to approve a military budget of about $858 billion, $45 billion more than Biden had requested from taxpayers.
Critics of Ukrainian aid say much of the funds have ended up in the hands of American defense contractors.
Others have demanded the previous sums of money approved by Congress should be audited before aid more is given.
Still, others are concerned the sheer amount of money spent defending Ukraine’s borders is too much.
American taxpayers have given more aid to Ukraine than is sent in 2020 to Afghanistan, Israel, and Egypt combined.
In just a few short months since the Ukrainian war, the amount of U.S. aid to Ukraine also surpassed three of the largest recipients of U.S. military aid in history.
The New York Times reported Sunday the “[m]ilitary spending next year is on track to reach its highest level in inflation-adjusted terms since the peaks in the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars between 2008 and 2011, and the second highest in inflation-adjusted terms since World War II — a level that is more than the budgets for the next 10 largest cabinet agencies combined.”
