Biden signs Ukraine lend-lease act into law, expediting military aid
President Biden signed into law Monday afternoon a bill that will expedite the process of sending military aid to Ukraine, as the Eastern European country presses into its third month of fighting off a Russian invasion.
Flanked by Vice President Harris and members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, Biden vowed the United States would continue to support Ukraine “in their fight to defend their country and their democracy” against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war.
“Every day Ukrainians fight for their lives,” Biden said. “The cost of the fight is not cheap but caving to aggression is even more costly.”
The House passed the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 last month on a 417-to-10 vote. Only a few weeks before, the Senate had passed it unanimously, a rare and overwhelming show of bipartisanship in today’s bitterly divided Congress.
The measure, introduced by a bipartisan group of senators, updates a 1941 law the United States used to help its allies during World War II. Now that the bill is signed into law, the United States will be able to more quickly provide equipment and other supplies to Ukraine during the ongoing Russian invasion, as the bill enhances Biden’s authority to expedite agreements with Ukraine and other Eastern European countries.
After the House passed the bill on April 28, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) harked back to the lend-lease program that President Franklin D. Roosevelt started with allied countries in 1941, which she said turned the tide of World War II.
“In his 1941 State of the Union address, President Roosevelt explained that democracy itself, democracy itself was under … dire threat, not only in Europe, but around the world,” Pelosi said then. “And he called on Congress to lend a hand to our allies overseas: bolstering their defenses so they can defeat the evils of fascism.” [Continue reading…]