Pentagon exempts Ukraine operations from potential government shutdown
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/21...utdown-00117482


The decision means that training on American tactics and equipment can move forward uninterrupted if lawmakers don’t reach a funding deal by the end of the month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin just hours before the DOD announced it will continue activities supporting Ukraine if government appropriations lapse. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo

By Lara Seligman
09/21/2023 05:29 PM ET
Updated: 09/21/2023 06:47 PM EDT

The Pentagon will exempt its Ukraine operations from a potential shutdown if lawmakers can’t agree on a deal to fund the government by the end of the month, allowing key training and other activities in support of Kyiv’s forces to move ahead uninterrupted, according to a Defense Department spokesperson.

Washington is more resigned to the looming government shutdown every day. As the Sept. 30 deadline approaches, congressional leaders showed little progress this week in moving a stopgap funding bill to avert that scenario. The House was in chaos on Thursday as a group of GOP hardliners tanked a vote that could have offered a path to fund the government.

But if lawmakers fail to reach an agreement and government appropriations lapse, DOD has decided to continue activities supporting Ukraine, DOD spokesperson Chris Sherwood told POLITICO Thursday — just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley and other senior leaders at the Pentagon.

“Operation Atlantic Resolve is an excepted activity under a government lapse in appropriations,” Sherwood said, referring to the named operation for DOD’s activities in response to the Russian invasion.

The move means that the U.S. military’s activities related to the war, such as training of Ukrainian soldiers on American tactics and equipment, as well as shipments of weapons to Kyiv, will continue despite any potential shutdown. As recently as Tuesday, Sherwood had said the shutdown could halt those activities, as POLITICO first reported.-- excerpt, rest at link above --

‘We’ll get it done,’ McCaul says of Ukraine aid after Zelensky meeting
by Laura Kelly - 09/21/23 11:11 AM ET
https://thehill.com/policy/international...lensky-meeting/


The top House Republican overseeing U.S. foreign affairs said Congress will provide more funding for Ukraine to fight off the Russian invasion despite GOP pushback, after a Thursday meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also proposed legislating that the U.S. provide F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine and long-range missiles that the Biden administration has held back on providing.

“We need to give ’em everything they need. And if this administration won’t give it to them, then I submitted that we write in our appropriations bill, we write the weapons that he [Zelensky] asked for, that this administration won’t give,” McCaul told reporters, adding that senior Democratic lawmakers agreed with his proposal.

President Biden has approved partner countries to provide American-made F16s to Ukraine but has not yet committed sending them from U.S. stockpiles. The administration has also so far refused to send Ukraine Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), which have a range of nearly 190 miles.

The president has submitted to Congress a request for $24 billion in additional funding-- excerpt, rest at link above --

McCarthy vows to strip Ukraine money from Pentagon bill after Greene ‘no’ vote
by Mychael Schnell - 09/22/23 1:09 PM ET

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4218467-mccarthy-vows-to-strip-ukraine-money-from-pentagon-bill-after-greene-no-vote/

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced Friday that he will strip funding for Ukraine out of a Pentagon spending bill after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) joined conservatives in blocking the legislation from advancing earlier this week.

McCarthy said he would remove the $300 million for Ukraine currently in the Pentagon appropriations bill and hold a separate vote on the funding.

“It would be out and voted on by itself,” McCarthy said when asked about the Ukraine aid in the Pentagon appropriations bill.

The Speaker’s announcement comes one day after a band of five conservatives opposed a procedural vote for the Pentagon appropriations bill, sinking the effort and preventing the legislation from moving forward. It was the second time this week that hard-liners blocked the funding bill from advancing.

Votes on rules — which govern debate for legislation — are normally partisan and predictable matters, with the majority supporting voting “yes” and the minority party voting “no.” It is very rare for rules to fail on the floor.

Greene, who has emerged as a close ally of McCarthy, was one of the Republicans who voted against the rule Thursday “because it funds the war in Ukraine.” It was a shift from her vote Tuesday, when the congresswoman supported the procedural vote to advance the Defense measure.

The rule failed for a second time on the same day that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with lawmakers in the Capitol.

The Pentagon funding bill includes $300 million “to provide assistance, including training; equipment; lethal assistance; logistics support, supplies and services; salaries and stipends; sustainment; and intelligence support to the military and national security forces of Ukraine, and to other forces or groups recognized by and under the authority of the Government of Ukraine, including governmental entities within Ukraine, engaged in resisting Russian aggression against Ukraine, for replacement of any weapons or articles provided to the Government of Ukraine from the inventory of the United States.”

Greene has come out against sending additional money to Ukraine. On Friday morning, she went live on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and said she would support the measure if the Ukraine aid is taken out.

Following McCarthy’s announcement Friday, Greene said it was “frustrating” that it took leadership so long to strip out the money.

“This should have happened weeks ago,” Greene told The Hill in a statement. “I’ve made it loud and clear that I would not vote for a single penny of Ukraine funding. It’s frustrating to me things had to get to this level, that we had to waste an entire week when we could have been passing appropriations.

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Quote: Isailedaway wrote in post #4

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The feds wish to inflict as much pain as possible to get the money they believe they deserve

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