Biden Signs Bill To Accelerate Military Aid To Ukraine Using WWII-Era Lend-Lease Program

Topline

President Joe Biden on Monday signed into law a bill making it easier for the U.S. to provide weapons to Ukraine, by reviving a process previously used by the U.S. to support the Allies during World War II without technically entering the conflict.

Key Facts

In effect, this allows the U.S. to resupply Ukraine’s military without the usual delays and complications of passing spending measures through Congress, potentially speeding up the rate of military assistance.

The bill drew on the 1941 Lend-Lease Act, which allowed the U.S. to provide weaponry and other supplies to Allied nations participating in World War II while remaining officially neutral.

The bill was introduced January 19 by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who claimed it would be a “game-changer” for Ukraine, and it passed the Senate in a unanimous vote April 7 and passed the House by a vote of 417-10 April 28, the same day Biden asked Congress for an unprecedented $33 billion in aid for Ukraine, including $20 billion in weaponry.

Biden’s signature of the bill underscored the U.S.’s significant military support for Ukraine, which has reportedly included sharing to-the-minute battlefield updates and forecasts of future Russian troop movements.

Big Number

$3.8 billion. That’s how much security assistance the U.S. has provided to Ukraine since the invasion began, according to the State Department.

Key Background

Despite fears that direct military support for Ukraine might antagonize Russia, the U.S. has provided Ukraine with helicopters, artillery, military drones and tens of thousands of sets of body armor and helmets, among other hardware. In April, shortly after the U.S. approved its first $800 million military aid package for Ukraine since the invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that such arms shipments were “adding fuel” to the war and could provoke “unpredictable consequences.” Nonetheless, Russia has avoided striking neighboring NATO members like Poland, which has served as a waypoint for U.S. military equipment on its way to Ukraine. On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken authorized the provision of $150 million worth of military hardware from the Defense Department’s supplies. However, this falls well short of the $20 billion in military assistance that Biden requested from Congress last month, and which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he hoped would be quickly approved. Despite enjoying bipartisan support, this funding measure stalled in the Senate as Democratic lawmakers attempted to combine it with $10 billion in Covid-19 response funding.

Further Reading

“U.S. Reportedly Gave Ukraine Intel To Help Sink Russian Warship Moskva” (Forbes)