Tag: Foreign Aid

Vowing the U.S. Will ‘Do Our Job,’ Johnson Searches for a Path on Ukraine

When Speaker Mike Johnson opened the floor for questions at a closed-door luncheon fund-raiser in New Jersey last month, Jacquie Colgan asked how, in the face of vehement opposition within his own ranks, he planned to handle aid for Ukraine. What followed was an impassioned monologue by Mr. Johnson in which he explained why continued […]

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Biden Signs Final Bill to Fund the Government, Ending Shutdown Fears

President Biden signed a $1.2 trillion spending package on Saturday, putting an end to the prospect of a government shutdown after the legislation passed a rushed series of congressional votes with bipartisan support and landed on his desk just after 2 a.m. The government faced a potential shutdown if the measure was not signed into […]

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Ocasio-Cortez, in House Speech, Accuses Israel of ‘Genocide’

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned on Friday that Israel’s blockade of Gaza had put the territory on the brink of severe famine, saying publicly for the first time that the nation’s wartime actions amounted to an “unfolding genocide.” In a speech on the House floor, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, forcefully called on President Biden […]

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How Biden Could Try to Coerce Israel to Change Its War Strategy

As the Biden administration increasingly clashes with Israeli leaders over the war in Gaza, a question that often arises is whether U.S. officials will try to exercise some form of harder leverage as Israel ignores their pleas. They could do so, critics say, to try to get Israel to let more humanitarian aid into Gaza […]

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In Ethiopia’s Tigray and Across Africa, Rape Has Been Used as a Weapon of War

In the summer of 2023, while I was negotiating the price of a pair of cloud-shaped wire sunglasses, a man walked behind me and sexually assaulted me. I was at a stall in one of the many open-air markets in Mekelle, Ethiopia’s second largest city. The man touched my body, attempting to feel as much […]

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U.S. Defense Secretary Praises NATO Allies for Commitment to Ukraine

With additional American aid still in doubt, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on Tuesday called for “creative, adaptable and sustainable ways” to continue arming Ukraine and praised European allies who were trying to bolster Kyiv’s military as the war against Russia entered a critical stretch. Mr. Austin, in Germany for the start of a […]

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Biden and Irish Leader Use St. Patrick’s Day Visit to Address Gaza

President Biden on Sunday used what is normally a festive St. Patrick’s Day celebration at the White House to acknowledge the growing international concern, including among the Irish, over the humanitarian situation of Palestinians amid Israel’s military action in Gaza. “The taoiseach and I agree about the urgent need to increase humanitarian aid in Gaza […]

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U.S. Arms Will Help Ukraine, but Only for a Little While

The $300 million in new weaponry that the United States is sending to Ukraine, the first American military aid package in months, will help the Ukrainian military hold off Russian troops for a few weeks, analysts say, but it will not change the overall situation on the battlefield, where Moscow currently has the advantage. Ukraine […]

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U.S. to Send $300 Million in Weapons to Ukraine Under Makeshift Plan

The Biden administration announced on Tuesday that it was sending up to $300 million in weapons to Ukraine, the first new aid package for the country since funding ran out in late December. The package, pulled together from money that Army accountants cobbled from savings from contracts that came in under bid, includes air defense […]

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Senators Urge Biden to Stop Arming Israel, Citing Violation of U.S. Aid Law

A group of Democratic senators urged President Biden on Monday to stop providing offensive weapons to Israel for the war against Hamas until it lifts restrictions on U.S.-backed humanitarian aid going into Gaza. In a letter to Mr. Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, and seven Democrats argued that by continuing to arm Israel, […]

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Ukraine Faces Losses Without More U.S. Aid, Officials Say

Senior intelligence officials warned on Monday that without additional American aid, Ukraine faced the prospect of continued battlefield losses as Russia relies on a network of critical arms suppliers and drastically increases its supply of technology from China. In public testimony during the annual survey of worldwide threats facing the United States, the officials predicted […]

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U.S. Military Enters a New Phase With Gaza Aid Operations

The United States has a history of using its military to get food, water and other humanitarian relief to civilians during wars or natural disasters. The walls of the Pentagon are decorated with photographs of such operations in Haiti, Liberia, Indonesia and countless other countries. But it is rare for the United States to try […]

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Hot Mic: Biden Says He Told Netanyahu They Are Nearing a ‘Come-to-Jesus Meeting’

President Biden said on Thursday that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel were headed toward a “come-to-Jesus meeting” over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, according to an audio clip of the president’s remarks posted on social media on Friday. Mr. Biden’s comment highlights the rising tensions between him and Mr. Netanyuhu in recent […]

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José Andrés’s World Central Kitchen, Central to U.S. Gaza Aid Plan, Aims to Ramp Up

Since October, organizers and Palestinian cooks working with the World Central Kitchen — the aid organization founded by the renowned Spanish chef José Andrés — have served more than 32 million meals in Gaza, the group has said. Plans for the U.S. military to build a floating pier to bring aid into the enclave would […]

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Biden’s Gaza Port Is Not Enough

March 5, 2024, 1:29 p.m. ET March 5, 2024, 1:29 p.m. ET “I was a little disappointed that Katie Porter chose to run,” Karl Rubin, an emeritus professor of math, told me on the patio of a community center on the campus of the University of California, Irvine, on Monday morning. He said that Porter, […]

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Mutual Frustrations Arise in U.S.-Ukraine Alliance

More than two years into their wartime alliance, the bond between the United States and Ukraine is showing signs of wear and tear, giving way to mutual frustration and a feeling that the relationship might be stuck in a bit of a rut. It is the stuff that often strains relationships — finances, different priorities […]

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Russian Strike’s Toll Rises to 10 as Zelensky Blames Air Defense Delay

Rescue workers in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa pulled the bodies of a mother and baby from the rubble of an apartment building on Sunday, bringing the death toll in a Russian attack two days ago to 10. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said delays by the country’s allies in supplying air defenses had […]

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Russian Strike’s Toll Rises to 10 as Zelensky Blames Air Defense Delay

Rescue workers in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa pulled the bodies of a mother and baby from the rubble of an apartment building on Sunday, bringing the death toll in a Russian attack two days ago to 10. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said delays by the country’s allies in supplying air defenses had […]

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As Spending Talks Intensify, Johnson’s Bind Grows Tighter

At an intense meeting inside the Oval Office on Tuesday, Speaker Mike Johnson was the odd man out. President Biden made clear that the speaker’s positions were out of step with other leaders in government, as did Vice President Kamala Harris. The top Democrats in the House and Senate did, too. Even Senator Mitch McConnell, […]

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Spending Impasse Persists Amid G.O.P. Resistance as Partial Shutdown Looms

Congressional leaders have failed to reach a deal on legislation to keep federal funding going past Friday, with Republicans insisting on adding right-wing policy dictates to the spending bills, pushing the government to the brink of a partial shutdown within days. Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said on Sunday […]

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Hard Lessons Make for Hard Choices 2 Years Into the War in Ukraine

Two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States has the capacity to keep Kyiv supplied with the weapons, technology and intelligence to fend off a takeover by Moscow. But Washington is now perceived around Europe to have lost its will. The Europeans, in contrast, have the will — they just committed another $54 […]

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As Putin Threatens, Despair and Hedging in Europe

As the leaders of the West gathered in Munich over the past three days, President Vladimir V. Putin had a message for them: Nothing they’ve done so far — sanctions, condemnation, attempted containment — would alter his intentions to disrupt the current world order. Russia made its first major gain in Ukraine in nearly a […]

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Intelligence Chairman Defends His Hints About a Russian Space Weapon

Representative Michael R. Turner defended his decision to hint publicly about classified intelligence that Russia is moving to deploy a new space-based nuclear weapon. “They needed to know this information,” Mr. Turner, an Ohio Republican and the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday. […]

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Republicans Push Hard Line on Russia While Defending Trump’s NATO Comments

Senator Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina, said on Sunday that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was a “murderous dictator” responsible for the death of the opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny, and that “we need strong leadership coming from America that actually pushes back against Russia and other dictators.” Then Mr. Scott followed up […]

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Biden Administration Blames Congress for Fall of Ukrainian City

The Biden administration said Saturday that the Ukrainian military withdrawal from Avdiivka was the result of Congress failing to provide additional money to support Kyiv’s war effort. Ukraine ordered the withdrawal from the eastern city of Avdiivka before dawn on Saturday, the country’s first major battlefield loss since the fall of Bakhmut last year. “This […]

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‘Dictators Do Not Go on Vacation,’ Zelensky Warns Washington and Europe

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called on world leaders not to abandon his country, citing the recent death of a Russian dissident as a reminder that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would continue to test the international order, and pushing back against the idea of a negotiated resolution to the war. Mr. Zelensky, speaking […]

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The Best Case for Ukraine Aid

The first year of the war in Ukraine seemed to vindicate Russia hawks. The belief that Vladimir Putin was a careful chess player whose ambitions could be constrained through negotiation, the belief that Ukraine couldn’t plausibly defend itself against Moscow and therefore didn’t merit support from an already overstretched America — these ideas seemed to […]

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Avdiivka, Longtime Ukraine Stronghold Ukraine, Falls to Russia

Ukraine ordered the complete withdrawal from the ruined city of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine before dawn on Saturday, surrendering a city that had been a military stronghold for the better part of a decade, in the face of withering Russian bombardment and relentless assault. “Based on the operational situation around Avdiivka, in order to avoid […]

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AME Church Leaders Call for End of U.S. Aid to Israel

Leaders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the country’s oldest and most prominent Black Christian denominations, called this week for the United States to end its financial aid to Israel, saying the monthslong military campaign in Gaza amounted to “mass genocide.” The statement was issued by the church’s Council of Bishops, its executive […]

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Biden Condemns ‘Putin and His Thugs’ for Navalny’s Death

President Biden blamed President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia personally on Friday for the reported death of the imprisoned Russian dissident Aleksei A. Navalny, and cited the case in pressing House Republicans to approve military aid to Ukraine in its war with Moscow. But while he once threatened to impose “devastating” consequences on Mr. Putin […]

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In Munich, Harris Aims to Reassure European Allies as Trump Disparages NATO

As Air Force Two taxied for takeoff bound for Germany, Vice President Kamala Harris made her way through the plane handing out heart-shaped Valentine’s Day cookies. It was good practice for her trip to the Munich Security Conference, where her mission will be to reassure European allies that America still loves them. Arriving in Munich […]

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