APRIL 25, 2024 – President Joe Biden signed into law a bill that provides much-needed security assistance to American partners, including Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
“It’s going to make America safer. It’s going to make the world safer. And it continues America’s leadership in the world,” Biden said during a briefing following the signing ceremony. “It gives vital support to America’s partners so they can defend themselves against threats to their sovereignty and the lives and freedom of their citizens.”
The president said that the security supplemental, worth about $95 billion, is not just an investment in the security of U.S. partners around the world, but also in U.S. security at home and abroad.
“This is directly in the United States’ national security interest,” Biden said. “If Putin triumphs in Ukraine, the next move of Russian forces could very well be a direct attack on a NATO ally.”
If that happened, Biden said, the U.S., as a NATO partner, would be bound to assist.
“We’d have no choice but to come to their aid, just like our NATO allies came to our aid after the September 11 attacks,” he said. “That’s why we’re supporting and surging support now to Ukraine, to stop Putin from drawing the United States into a war in Europe.”
Among expenditures in the security supplemental package is more than $60 billion for support to Ukraine. Biden said that assistance will begin to flow immediately, initially as part of a new package of security assistance through presidential drawdown authority, which involves military equipment pulled from existing U.S. inventory.
“I’m making sure the shipments start right away,” he said. “In the next few hours — literally, a few hours — we’re going to begin sending in equipment to Ukraine for air defense munitions, for artillery, for rocket systems and armored vehicles.”
Shortly after the president spoke, the Defense Department released details of a $1 billion security assistance package for Ukraine which includes, among other things, RIM-7 and AIM-9M missiles; Stinger anti-aircraft missiles; tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire-guided, or TOW, missiles; ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System; 155 mm and 105 mm artillery shells; and a variety of combat vehicles.
The bill also includes some $14.1 billion for funding to support Israel, Biden said.
Earlier this month, on April 13, Iran and its proxy groups launched more than 300 airborne weapons at targets in Israel, but the U.S., Israeli and partner forces destroyed a significant portion of them before they reached their targets. The president said the U.S. remains committed to Israeli security.
“My commitment to Israel, I want to make clear again, is ironclad,” Biden said “The security of Israel is critical, and we’ll always make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against Iran and the terrorists it supports.”
The supplemental security bill, Biden said, helps Israel replenish its air defense capabilities and also provides for additional defense needs.
The supplemental funding also provides $9.5 billion for humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and other populations caught in conflict zones across the globe.
“This bill includes $1 billion for additional humanitarian aid in Gaza,” he said. “We’re going to immediately secure that aid and surge it … including food, medical supplies [and] clean water.”
Also included in the bill is funding for partners in the Indo-Pacific region, and humanitarian aid for Haiti, Biden said.
“This [bill] is a reminder what America can do when we come together, despite our differences,” he said. “I want to thank everyone in Congress who made it possible.”
By C. Todd Lopez, DOD News