To everyone who is 25 35 45 years old and still hasn't learned how government spending works.....
Congress, not the president, determines federal spending. The president cannot spend new money without Congressional approval. The president does have some latitude to direct already-approved spending so long as it is in line with the function it was approved for.
There was a small spending package for Ukraine approved by Congress (2% of this year's budget). That is the only new funding that was approved. All other aid for Ukraine was already-bought weapons sent from the Pentagon, surplus we had in storage, it was not new approved funding.
Biden can't redirect any funding for Ukraine to a pandemic effort. It's unconstitutional. And the amount of funding approved for Ukraine was miniscule compared to the federal budget anyway. If y'all want something to be angry about, then be angry that Pentagon funding has ballooned to $800 billion a year, up from just $640 billion at the end of Obama's term, mostly due to ra ra go military funding increases during the Trump administration. That extra $160 billion every year, most of which just goes to defense contractors, is far more relevant to US budgets than a one-time $40 billion drop.
Congress, not the president, determines federal spending. The president cannot spend new money without Congressional approval. The president does have some latitude to direct already-approved spending so long as it is in line with the function it was approved for.
There was a small spending package for Ukraine approved by Congress (2% of this year's budget). That is the only new funding that was approved. All other aid for Ukraine was already-bought weapons sent from the Pentagon, surplus we had in storage, it was not new approved funding.
Biden can't redirect any funding for Ukraine to a pandemic effort. It's unconstitutional. And the amount of funding approved for Ukraine was miniscule compared to the federal budget anyway. If y'all want something to be angry about, then be angry that Pentagon funding has ballooned to $800 billion a year, up from just $640 billion at the end of Obama's term, mostly due to ra ra go military funding increases during the Trump administration. That extra $160 billion every year, most of which just goes to defense contractors, is far more relevant to US budgets than a one-time $40 billion drop.
