Zelenskyy Is Here To Say $100 Billion ‘Is Not Enough’

Dec. 21, 2022 (EIRNS)—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was flown to Washington on Dec. 21 “for a few hours on the ground” to perform his imitation of Winston Churchill and help make Americans accept that supporting Zelenskyy’s government against Russia really is their number-one concern, even though every survey shows that their support is quite lukewarm.

Willing or not, American taxpayers will back at least $100 billion in aid to Ukraine in one year, considerably more than Russia’s military budget equivalent to approximately $65 billion. “At least,” because Antiwar.com reported that Zelenskyy had already pronounced to some Ukrainian troops on Dec. 20, “So we will pass it on from the boys in Bakhmut to the United States—we are grateful for their support, but it is not enough. It’s a hint, but it is not enough.” This, presumably referring to the latest $45 billion for Ukraine in the Continuing Resolutions being batted between houses of Congress, plus the $51 billion already delivered since March.

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA) made news on Dec. 21, Wednesday afternoon, announcing he would oppose the Continuing Resolution, being voted on in the Senate Wednesday night, when it comes back to the House on Thursday, Dec. 22. That is not likely to threaten passage.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) said Dec. 20 that “making sure the Defense Department can deal with the major threats coming from Russia and China—providing assistance for the Ukrainians to defeat the Russians. That’s the number one priority for the United States right now—according to most Republicans”—meaning to cast down the dissenters like Senators Mike Lee, Rand Paul, et al.

For the first time, in this omnibus Continuing Resolution, military spending is not just more, but much more than all other discretionary spending combined—$858 billion vs. $772 billion. The House Progressive Dems had wanted to increase the latter to make it even, but were beaten down. The Congressional negotiators have included a planned cut of about $12 billion in Medicaid spending by the federal government as states are permitted to remove people from Medicaid coverage for the first time since the pandemic began.

Total NATO spending would reach $1.2 trillion, almost 20 times Russia’s defense budget. In the larger U.S. budgetary context: U.S. total spending for FY2023 will be well above $6 trillion, of which about $4.5 trillion will be entitlement spending such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. The budget deficit is projected—by the White House—to be $1.3 trillion of that, but is likely to be higher, and perhaps much higher since White House projections admit no possibility of recession.