Joe Biden announced today that the US will contribute the following to the growing pit of death and destruction in Ukraine.
The new $800M package includes:
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 16, 2022
- 800 anti-aircraft systems
- 9,000 anti-armor systems
- 7,000 small arms
- 20 Million rounds
- Unmanned aerial systems
And more.
It surprises no one to learn that this expenditure did not immediately elicit a chorus of "BUT HOW WILL WE PAY FOR IT" howls from the psychopaths who dominate American media and politics. They do love to yell that. But only when it refers to expenditures on things like food or medicine for poor people. It's fine when we spend the money on murder. That's what our enlightened rulers enjoy most.
So, anyway, how will we pay for it?
Next week, the White House says it will start to wind down a COVID-19 program that pays to test, treat and vaccinate people who don't have health insurance.
It's one of several immediate impacts after Congress declined to add $22.5 billion in funding to a broad government spending bill passed last week. President Biden signed the bill into law on Tuesday, hailing it as a bipartisan achievement without mentioning the lack of COVID-19 funding.
The COVID-19 funding request met with political pushback from Republicans and concern among some lawmakers that the White House has not fully explained how trillions in COVID money has been spent so far and what funding remains. Republicans in particular have been unwilling to agree to new spending.
Ah okay we've given up even pretending to care about COVID and kicking millions of Americans off of Medicaid. That's plenty money right there. What else, though?
The bill also does not include further Hurricane Ida aid, but time likely remains to appropriate more dollars for that storm, which hit in August and affected a range of states, including New York, whose congressional delegation holds strong sway.
Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, sought an amendment to include $3 billion for 2020 and 2021 disasters, but the proposal was rejected. He said that while he supported the billions appropriated for Ukraine, and noted aid being sent to Haiti and elsewhere, needs here should be taken care of as well.
“How do you do that and not provide aid for our own citizens, for people that are in need?” he said. “You’re treating people of other countries better than we're treating our own. I want to be clear: I'm not necessarily saying that with Ukraine. We're not under missile attack right now. But for some of these other countries, that’s exactly what's happening.”
Garret Graves isn't "necessarily saying that with Ukraine" but I will. It is unconscionable to let people suffer the effects of multiple major hurricanes in order to send even more instruments of death into a war zone. Despite what the hunky Ukranian guy everybody loves says, the US can still choose to do some actual good things for people instead of helping him start Word War III. But in American politics it's always easier to kill a million people in Europe than it is to figure out how to feed and clothe them here.
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