Biden Signs $40 Billion Aid Package To Ukraine While U.S. Inflation At 40 Year High
By Donald Standeford, Correspondent - Follow -
Date Published: May 21, 2022 11:40PM UTC
Last Modified: May 21, 2022 11:40PM UTC
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Joe Biden signed a $40 billion dollar aid package to Ukraine during his visit to Seoul, the capital of South Korea after the Senate passed the package with an 86-11 vote, while inflation in the United States sits at a 40-year high.
While the $40 billion in aid to Ukraine passed, the Senate chose to block another $48 billion aid package for restaurants, gyms and other small businesses back home that had been negatively affected by the COVID lockdowns and restrictions. The aid package for small businesses failed to pass due to opponents citing its impact on the federal deficit and the current rise in inflation.
While no democrats voted against the bill to send the aid package to Ukraine, 11 Republicans voted against. Whether to send more aid to Ukraine or not has been a difficult issue. On one hand, both China and Russia are watching what the West does very closely.
Not sending aid would signal to both China and Russia that the United States is not willing to continue to support Ukraine, and also signals that the U.S. would likely respond in the same way with Taiwan, if China decided to carry out an invasion on the island.
One the other hand, the United States is currently struggling with a sharp increase in inflation due to an increase in spending. If the United States continues to spend, the inflation in the country will continue to rise, causing catastrophic long-term consequences, not just in the United States, but worldwide.
Republican Representative Gary Palmer, chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee decided to vote for sending the aid to Ukraine and said that there was a "bigger picture" that justified his support for the bill.
Palmer said that he believes sending the aid is essential for helping Ukraine defend against the Russian invasion, but that it also sends a message to other hostile actors across the globe, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"I know there are some people who are concerned about, you know, what’s going on in Ukraine" he stated. "They don’t see it in the bigger picture. But I tell people — I know people in Alabama are watching the vote. People around the country are watching the vote. But they need to understand who else is watching the vote. Obviously, Vladimir Putin is watching it, but so is Xi Jinping and China. That’s huge".
"If they see that we as a country are willing to continue to support the Ukrainians, then I think it sends a clear message that we’ll do the same thing for Taiwan".
"We cannot afford to lose Taiwan to the Chinese. Seventy percent of your semiconductors and microchips come from Taiwan. Ninety percent of your advanced ones come from there. I think if China invaded Taiwan, those factories would be destroyed, and I think we would be in a worldwide depression. The Ayatollah was watching that vote, Kim Jong-un in North Korea" he continued.
"You’ve got to look at it in the bigger picture and understand that there are things happening right now that could seriously impact our future" he stated.
Unfortunately, if inflation continues to rise and the value of the U.S. dollar plummets the United States will not be able to help anyone in the long term. Not even itself.
