Congress Preparing for Another Round of Ukraine Aid, Neglecting Maui

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden administration has long been rumored to likely ask Congress for another round of aid to Ukraine in August. Approximately a year and a half since the outbreak of the war, in February 2022, the United States has given more than $113 billion of taxpayer dollars to Ukraine’s war effort.

The amount of money being sent to Ukraine, however, far exceeds the amount provided to domestic crises like the southern border and most recently the Lahaina wildfire disaster on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

An emergency spending request was sent to Congress last week from the White House requesting $12 billion to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), $24 billion to Ukraine, and $4 billion for more resources at the southern border.

Additionally, Biden floated the idea, and was criticized as a result, for offering victims of the Hawaiian wildfire just $700 per household while Ukraine is continuing to receive billions from American coffers.

A partisan fight is likely to break out on Capitol Hill, as well, as FEMA money to Hawaii could be tied to the additional Ukraine aid. Recent estimates have shown Maui is facing as much as $6 billion in damages.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is calling on Biden and the White House to separate Ukraine aid from disaster relief.

“Biden is holding Floridians, and other Americans, hostage by tying critical domestic disaster relief to foreign military aid,” Rubio said. “This is the type of cynical political manipulation.”

CORPORATE BENEFICIARIES AND THEIR CONGRESSIONAL TIES

While the interests of the White House are focused on Ukraine and not domestically, America’s largest defense contractors will be seeing another round of defense requests.

The United States Department of Defense (DOD) announced a $200 million “security assistance package” for Ukraine which will include Patriot air defense systems and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), among other items.

As recently as March 2023, Raytheon was awarded a $1.2 billion contract to produce the Patriot air missile systems. Similarly, defense contractor Lockheed Martin is the main manufacturer for HIMARS, as they were awarded their contract in April 2023.

The United States has also provided Javelin missiles to the Ukrainians, which are jointly produced by Lockheed and Raytheon. There are numerous members of Congress with financial ties at one point or another, primarily invested stock, in Raytheon and Lockheed, including:

• Republican Rep. John Rutherford of Florida,
• Republican Rep. Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee,
• Democrat Rep. Lois Frankel of Florida,
• Republican Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska,
• Democrat Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado,
• Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island,
• Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia,
• Democrat Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan,
• Republican Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma,
• Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee,
• Republican Rep. John Curtis of Utah,
• Democrat Rep. David Price of North Carolina, and
• Democrat Rep. Dwight Evans of Pennsylvania.

The spouses of multiple lawmakers also have been in possession of traded stocks in Raytheon and Lockheed including:

• Margaret Kirkpatrick, spouse to Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon,
• John Axne, the spouse of Democrat Rep. Cindy Axne of Iowa, and
• Martha Stacy, the wife of Democrat Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware.

Data has also shown that “more than half of the income taxes remitted to the U.S government are spent on Pentagon accounts,” according to Truthout.