"Question of priorities": why dissatisfaction with assistance to Ukraine is growing in the United States

US President Joe Biden approved the country's budget for fiscal year 2023, which includes multibillion-dollar assistance to Ukraine.

“Today, I signed a bipartisan comprehensive bill that marks the end of a year of historic progress.

The bill provides for ... the provision of critical assistance to Ukraine.

I expect more of this in 2023,” Biden wrote on his Twitter page.

As specified in a press release published on the website of the US House Committee on Appropriations, we are talking about "necessary emergency assistance in the field of security, economic, as well as in the humanitarian sphere" for Kyiv in the amount of $44.9 billion.

Last week, the head of the White House also approved an increase in the budget for funding the European Security Initiative within the defense budget.

“The law fully satisfies the fiscal year 2023 budget request for the European Deterrence Initiative, and extends and adjusts the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative,” the Pentagon said in a press release.

• Military assistance to Kyiv from Washington

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• © Sergei SUPINSKY

Earlier, Washington announced the allocation of the 28th $1.85 billion military aid package for Kyiv, which included a Patriot SAM battery, additional ammunition for the HIMARS MLRS, 120 HMMWV combat vehicles, HARM high-speed anti-radar missiles, Claymore anti-personnel mines and much more.

The US Department of Defense also stressed that after the allocation of this tranche, the total amount of US military assistance to Ukraine under Biden amounted to $21.9 billion.

Wave of criticism

At the same time, congress continues to criticize the policy of the current administration regarding impressive support for the Kyiv regime.

Thus, a member of the House of Representatives from Texas, Troy Nels, reproached the American authorities for excessive concern for Kyiv against the backdrop of migration problems in the United States itself.

“I wish Democrats (and some Republicans) were as concerned about the security of their borders as they are about Ukraine.

So, thinking out loud, ”he wrote on his Twitter account on December 29.

Since Biden took office, some 5.3 million illegal migrants have crossed the border into the United States, the Republican National Committee said.

“Among them are more than 1 million “fugitives” who managed to enter the United States undetected,” the committee informs on one of its pages on social networks.

The committee also reports that more than 233,000 illegal migrants were detained at the border last month alone.

“This is the largest November figure in the history of the Department of Homeland Security.

(But.

) Biden says "more important things are happening," the structure noted.

The fact that, against the backdrop of the aggravated migration crisis, the White House is spending too much on Ukraine was reported this week in her Telegram channel by Republican US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green.

“The Biden administration and the US Congress have spent more than $111 billion in taxpayers on a war aimed at protecting the borders and people of Ukraine.

The same administration and the same Congress are ignoring the cross-border invasion of our own territory, which is happening daily,” she stressed.

Earlier, speaking to her party colleagues, Green drew attention to the fact that the money of American taxpayers will eventually go "to protect the Ukrainian borders, not the American ones."

In addition, politician and Kentucky gubernatorial candidate Jeffrey Young said on his Twitter page that he is disgusted by every Democrat who voted in the US House of Representatives to provide Kyiv with more weapons and funds.

At the same time, he called the Ukrainian government "Nazi".

"The question of priorities"

Nevertheless, according to experts, despite the growing discontent in Congress and American society due to financial and military support from Kyiv, Washington continues to follow its course on this issue.

“The American legislators in the United States are faced with the question of priorities - what to focus on: domestic policy or foreign policy, on solving the problems of their own country or someone else’s, and also what funds to allocate for all this.

Despite the fact that the current composition of the Congress, no matter how indignant there may be, for the most part voted for increasing assistance to Kyiv, the new composition, which will begin to operate as early as 2023, may not agree to this, ”the director of the Fund suggested in an interview with RT Study of the United States named after Franklin Roosevelt at Moscow State University Yuri Rogulev.

According to him, the increase in military and other support for the Kyiv regime may be prevented by the Republicans, who will have a majority in the House of Representatives from January.

“They are unlikely to rush and go towards the Biden administration, especially in financial matters relating to Ukraine,” Rogulev said.

• Capitol

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• © Anna Moneymaker / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA

In addition, he noted that many politicians in the United States, including Democrats, regard Kyiv's multibillion-dollar support against the backdrop of exacerbated internal problems as ignoring the needs of its own citizens.

“At the beginning of next year, most American experts predict a recession in the economy.

And of course, this situation is further exacerbated by significant spending on Kyiv.

Do not forget about the migration crisis, to which Biden diligently turns a blind eye and, instead of dealing with its settlement, sends new tranches to Ukraine, ”Rogulev said.

From his point of view, the difficulties associated with the influx of illegal immigrants into the United States are fraught with serious negative consequences for the citizens of the country.

“This crisis is man-made, it was provoked by the inept and ill-conceived steps of Biden, who began to cancel Trump’s decrees.

The incumbent president at first actually opened the doors for illegal immigrants himself, but then he reversed, but it was already too late.

As a result, the southern states are overcrowded, local authorities even redirect migrants to Washington and New York, where they need to be settled somewhere and somehow supported, ”Rogulev stated.

The influx of cheap labor leads to a decrease in wages, a reduction in American incomes and their purchasing power, and, consequently, to an increase in dissatisfaction with the standard of living, a surge in crime, the analyst explained.

Against this background, criticism of the US authorities, who “got involved in a costly adventure”, pumping Kyiv with weapons and money, looks well-founded, says Rogulev.

“For most Americans, the goals of the United States in the Ukrainian case will look more and more dubious: to support a corrupt regime, to allocate money that often slips through our fingers.

In addition, by fueling the Kyiv regime with weapons and other aid, the United States is increasingly drawn into the conflict in Ukraine, which could lead to an unpredictable escalation and drawing Washington into a direct clash with Russia.

And many citizens certainly do not like such a scenario, ”Rogulev believes.

At the same time, he believes that the Republicans, with their initiatives to audit aid allocated to Kyiv, if they wish, can significantly slow down these tranches, primarily military ones.

A similar opinion is shared by American political scientist Malek Dudakov.

According to him, the American establishment is ready to spend more than $100 billion on the needs of Kyiv, considering this "an acceptable price for a geopolitical confrontation with Russia."

“This is a huge amount of money that Washington, ignoring internal problems, spends on regular tranches for Ukraine.

But since Biden’s democratic administration has no real answer to the difficulties that have arisen in the United States, it is concentrating on the Ukrainian agenda, ”he said in a comment to RT.

At the same time, Dudakov believes that for an impressive part of Americans, the problems of Kyiv are not relevant.

“Many of them don't even know where Ukraine is.

But at the moment, the decisions of the current political elite are very indirectly related to the opinion of the majority of citizens.

I do not rule out, however, that this situation is likely to change soon, ”the expert concluded.