Now that Congress has funded the federal government for the next month and a half, the White House and lawmakers on Capitol Hill are hard at work looking for ways to pour more U.S. taxpayer money into Ukraine’s forever war with Russia.
During a White House press briefing on Monday, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre fretted that the administration is running out of the money needed to bankroll its continuing proxy war with Moscow. Government officials estimate there is approximately $6 billion remaining in military funds for Ukraine.
“It is enough to — for us to meet the — meet Ukraine’s urgent battlefield needs for a bit — for a bit longer,” Jean-Pierre told reporters.
Even though a majority of Americans oppose continued U.S. funding for Ukraine, congressional Democrats spent a significant portion of this past weekend’s spending fight arguing that more aid be shipped to the Eastern European nation. It was thanks to House Republicans and a handful of GOP senators that Congress ultimately approved a 45-day continuing resolution devoid of such funding.
Of course, this hasn’t stopped President Joe Biden or congressional leadership from professing their support for shipping more U.S. tax dollars to Ukraine. While discussing the spending fight, Biden suggested he’d reached an agreement with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to continue funding the conflict. Despite pushing back on the president’s insinuation that a deal had been made, McCarthy did proclaim to reporters on Monday that he’s “always supported arming Ukraine” and “believe[s] Ukraine is very important.”
Congress and the Biden administration committed more than $113 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars to Ukraine in 2022, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
But while Washington overzealously focuses on Ukraine’s military, concerns affecting America’s own armed forces have gone by the wayside. On Thursday, the U.S. Marine Corps announced it is lowering its uniform standards to compensate for a shortage of camouflage attire typically worn by service members. According to Commandant Gen. Eric Smith, local battalions are “authorized” to wear alternate attire contrary to Marine regulations to “mitigate” an ongoing manufacturing shortfall that’s left service members struggling to acquire woodland-patterned “cammies.”
“What we cannot have is a situation where a Marine is wearing unserviceable cammies, because that looks bad for the Corps, and we can’t have a situation where that Marine is being given a hard time about those unserviceable cammies. We’re going to get this fixed, Marines, but it’s going to take a little patience,” Smith said, adding that the problem won’t be fixed until the fall of 2024.
According to the Marine Corps Times, service members normally receive “three sets of woodland cammies and two sets of desert cammies.” Due to the ongoing shortage, however, the service has been providing Marines “two woodland sets and one desert set.” Meanwhile, new enlistees have reportedly been forced to undergo “entry-level training in flame-resistant organizational gear,” which are “typically reserved for deployments,” to compensate for the shortages.