patrick.net

Putin is engaging in some cold-blooded calculus here. "Make things very uncomfortable for people in the west and they will cave in and let me do what I want to do."

We cannot let Putin win this battle!!!!

U.S. government operations and domestic costs related to Ukraine, which covers the increased expenses to government agencies for operations like moving embassy personnel and prosecuting war criminals. It also includes $2 billion for support to energy companies, particularly the nuclear industry, to offset higher supplier costs. Some observers might exclude the energy subsidy as only tangentially related to the war in Ukraine. This tabulation includes the item since the administration categorized it as Ukraine related.

A1: Congress has passed three aid packages. The first in March ($13.6 billion) was tacked onto the massive $1.5 trillion omnibus appropriations for FY 2022. The package in May ($40 billion), which contained the major portion of the aid, was a standalone bill. The package in September ($13.7 billion) was attached to the continuing resolution. It was designed to provide aid through December, when Congress will consider full-year appropriation bills. As the chart below shows, the three packages total $68 billion.

On November 15, the administration submitted a new aid request of $37.7 billion which, if passed, would bring the total to $105.5 billion. This new aid package is designed to last through the end of the fiscal year (September 30, 2023). However, at the current rate of spending ($6.8 billion per month), this would last until about May. At that point, unless the war has ended or settled into a stalemate, the administration would need to ask for additional money.