President Biden asks Congress for $33 billion to fund Ukraine through September

President Joe Biden has formally asked Congress for $33 billion to fund both humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine through September of this year.

“It’s not cheap. But caving to aggression is going to be more costly,” Biden said on Thursday. “We need this bill to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom. And our NATO Allies, our EU partners, they’re going to pay their fair share of the costs as well, but we have to do this. We have to do our part as well, leading the Alliance,” Biden said. “The cost of this fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen.”

According to a White House statement, Biden’s request includes $20.4 billion in military assistance for Ukraine, $8.5 billion in economic assistance meant to help the Ukrainian government continue to function and provide basic services and $3 billion in humanitarian aid, which includes assistance to Ukrainians displaced by the war and food support for developing countries hurt by the disruption of Ukrainian supplies of wheat and other crops.

Biden’s request is seeking another $500 million to support the production of U.S. food crops that are seeing global shortages due to the war.

Biden said the direct U.S. aid to Ukraine’s economy is “going to allow pensions and social support to be paid to the Ukrainian people, so that they have something in their pocket.”

The other part of Biden’s package is a broad set of proposals to Congress to change current laws to make it easier for the Treasury and State departments to follow through on the hundreds of individual sanctions that have been imposed on Russian oligarchs, companies and government officials since the start of the war.

Under federal law, in order to sell off seized assets, prosecutors must first show that they are the proceeds of a crime. Currently, being a sanctioned Russian oligarch isn’t a crime.

Legal scholars have noted that without a crime, oligarchs could sue for the return of their property and would stand a good chance of winning in court. Under Biden’s proposal, Congress would create a new federal offense of knowingly possessing proceeds directly obtained from corrupt dealings with the Russian government.