Posted on 04/25/2024 12:26:02 PM PDT by BEJ
The aid package is to pay for a prior secret delivery of weapons. This closes the account with Ukraine. No more weapons unless Ukraine will pay for them. Yes, an ungrateful, entitled Zelinsky will demand and shriek for more weapons, but it seems Ukraine will to have to pay.
https://youtu.be/zmvKlkZmaoI
18:37 US aid package for Ukraine may not significantly impact the war.
21:22 The $23.2 billion US aid package is primarily covering military supplies already provided to Ukraine.
26:59 Limited information on US military assistance to Ukraine
So Biden and the deep-state were sending weapons to Ukraine, unauthorized by Congress?
Wasn’t Oliver North sentenced to 3 years in prison for this during Iran-Contra?
Now if Johnson had a bit more moxy he’d have acted all surprised and left who knows how many military, intelligence, and executive branch folks hanging out to dry. Should have ruined a bunch of “careers”.
THEY ARE NOT HIS FRIENDS OR ALLIES.
Biden breaks the Law again.
Both parties have his back. What does he have to fear?
It certainly would have been easier to swallow if we had been told this before the vote; makes the Speaker’s actions a bit more understandable.
Maybe that’s what changed Speaker Johnson’s mind about the Ukraine aid package. The goods were already delivered?
So who is the ultimate recipient of the $billion$?
Goods already delivered and used. Ukraine is still losing badly. IThis is more likely the event that they’ll use to declare war and suspend elections.
Something bad is in the horizon, don’t have a clue what they’re planning in the dc/deep state but I just feel it in my bones our government is gonna kill a bunch of Americans.
Yeah. Remember, Republicans are the only ones who get charged and go to jail. Democrats never go to jail unless they die in jail.
Slow Joe should be the one pleading for immunity before the Supreme Court today.
Yes, indeed. We still don’t know if the man has moxy. Or is a go along to get alone. Time will tell... but I would hate it if he turns out to be like Barr.
Exactly, Biden is royalty.
YUP!
politico.com
Connor O’Brien
01/29/2024
Dems inquiry on ‘highly unusual’ Israel weapons moves
Nineteen lawmakers want to know why State Dept approved
two arms sales to Israel without congressional approval.
Democratic lawmakers are seeking answers from the Biden administration over its decision to greenlight a pair of recent arms sales to Israel without congressional approval.
Nineteen Democrats called the State Department’s decision to unilaterally approve two emergency sales to Israel move “highly unusual” in a letter sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday and obtained by POLITICO.
It highlights a growing divide among Democrats, as progressives especially criticize how President Joe Biden has responded to Israel’s conduct in the Gaza war.
The lawmakers pressed for details about why the emergency sales were needed, which sidestepped the typical process that requires congressional approval, and any steps taken to mitigate civilian harm.
“It is essential for Congress to be able to conduct oversight of these arms transfers and determine whether they are consistent with humanitarian principles and U.S. law, and whether they advance or harm U.S. national security,” the lawmakers wrote, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.).
“We appreciate that your administration has repeatedly urged the Israeli government to take additional steps to reduce civilian casualties,” the group said to Blinken.
“However, we are concerned that these transfers and the administration’s evasion of congressional oversight may be inconsistent with broader U.S. foreign policy goals.”
It’s not the first time the Biden administration has faced open intra-party pushback over how it has handled Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza and mounting Palestinian civilian deaths.
Biden immediately faced criticism from Democrats for leaving Congress out of the loop on the two arms sales to Israel. The chairs and ranking members of the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees typically must sign off on foreign weapons sales.
The State Department in December used an emergency designation to approve the sale of 14,000 tank shells to Israel valued at $106 million. That same month, it used the same process to approve a sale of primers, fuzes and charges for Israel’s 155mm artillery shells previously sold by the U.S. The sale of the shells and added equipment totaled $147 million.
State Department officials have defended the move to expedite the sales, noting they have also used the mechanism to speed up weapons transfers for Ukraine, an argument that clearly didn’t sway certain members of Congress.
The Democratic lawmakers also pressed Blinken on whether the U.S. has conducted any vetting of Israel under the Leahy Law, which bars U.S. assistance to foreign militaries that commit gross human rights violations.
“Use of a national emergency waiver does not exempt the U.S. government from assessing whether arms sales are consistent with these policies,” they argued.
In addition to Warren, the letter was signed by Sens. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Fifteen House Democrats also signed on, including Reps. Betty McCollum of Minnesota and Barbara Lee of California, the top Democrats on the House panels that control appropriations to the State Department and the Pentagon.
Oversight of arms transfers will likely be a topic of debate when senators consider a $111 billion emergency aid package for Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel.
Democrats, led by Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, are pushing to reverse a proposal by the Biden administration that would allow officials to waive congressional notification requirements for some U.S. military aid to Israel.
It sure isn’t the tax payers.
What a racket.
Send a bunch of stuff to Ukraine with an invoice.
They can’t pay the bill, so they ask for money to pay the bill. And get it. Of course our government doesn’t care - it isn’t their money they are spending. Just like with ANY government project.
Heck for Congress critters it is probably better for them if they DO waste more money on projects. “Why, in 2022 I was able to bring in $800 million on highway projects to our state - and in 2023 did more than $1 billion!!”
State Department approves sale of tank ammunition to Israel, bypassing Congress
DECEMBER 9, 2023, By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Bypassing Congress, the Biden administration said Saturday it has approved the emergency sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth more than $106 million as Israel intensifies its military operations in the southern Gaza Strip.
The move comes as President Joe Biden’s request for a nearly $106 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other national security is languishing in Congress, caught up in a debate over U.S. immigration policy and border security. Some Democratic lawmakers have spoken of making the proposed $14.3 billion in American assistance to its Mideast ally contingent on concrete steps by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza during the war with Hamas.
That means the purchase will bypass the congressional review requirement for foreign military sales. Such determinations are rare, but not unprecedented, when administrations see an urgent need for weapons to be delivered without waiting for lawmakers’ approval.
“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability. This proposed sale is consistent with those objectives,” the department said in a statement. “Israel will use the enhanced capability as a deterrent to regional threats and to strengthen its homeland defense.”
The sale is worth $106.5 million and includes 13,981 120 mm High Explosive Anti-Tank Multi-Purpose with Tracer tank cartridges as well as U.S. support, engineering and logistics. The materiel will come from Army inventory.
Israel’s map and evacuation messages for Gaza are adding to the chaos
Bypassing Congress with emergency determinations for arms sales is an unusual step that has in the past met resistance from lawmakers, who normally have a period of time to weigh on proposed weapons transfers and, in some cases, block them.
In May, 2019, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an emergency determination for an $8.1 billion sales of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan after it became clear that the Trump administration would have trouble overcoming lawmakers’ concerns about the Saudi- UAE-led war in Yemen.
A former State Dept. official explains why he resigned over U.S. arms sent to Israel
MIDDLE EAST CRISIS — EXPLAINED
A former State Dept. official explains why he resigned over U.S. arms sent to Israel——link
Pompeo came under heavy criticism for the move, which some believed may have violated the law because many of the weapons involved had yet to be built and could not be delivered urgently. But he was cleared of any wrongdoing after an internal investigation.
At least four administrations have used the authority since 1979.
“The aid package is to pay for a prior secret delivery of weapons.”
This sentence makes no sense. We have to pay for a gift that we already gave them? Sounds like we are “gifting” them twice. How much more blackmail will we have to pay to satisfy Ukraine?
The main stream news said that the U.S. “secretly” provided long range missiles (I believe it is in the 180 mile range) to Ukraine. But shouldn’t the speaker of the house know what is in the package? He has to agree to a vote of arm shipments. The Biden administration might be caught stealing weapons and shipping them off to Ukraine without congressional approval.
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