On Thursday, US President Joe Biden signed into law a budget for federal services totaling $1.7 trillion, including $45 for Ukraine. The Democratic leader, who was on vacation in the US Virgin Islands, tweeted a photo of himself signing the text. This law is intended to make it possible to finance the smooth functioning of the American state, i.e. the law enforcement agencies, diplomacy, the armed forces and economic policy, until September 2023.
“(The law) will invest in medical research, security, veteran health care, natural disaster relief, or anti-violence programs,” commented President Joe Biden while providing “crucial assistance to Ukraine.”
Candidate 2024?
The text had garnered the support of some Republicans, ensuring easy passage and providing legislative success for Joe Biden as his second year in the White House nears its end. This year should also be the year of his decision on whether to run or not for the 2024 presidency.
The law provides Ukraine with $45 billion in economic and military support to fight against the Russian invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Washington in December to ask for more help.
It also includes an amendment to a 19th-century law designed to mention that the US vice president cannot directly intervene in the certification of election results.
Donald Trump had used the ambiguity of the old text to suggest that Mike Pence, his vice president, could have stopped Joe Biden from taking power after a victory the outgoing Republican refused to acknowledge, one of the elements that led to the Attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.