The Biden administration is planning to forgive roughly $4.7 billion that it loaned to Ukraine, the State Department announced on Wednesday, but some lawmakers are moving to stop that from happening.
The Biden administration has flooded Ukraine with billions of dollars since the country’s war with Russia began in 2022. Part of the funds that have been delivered to Ukraine came in the form of a loan, but Biden officials are ready to dismiss the debt, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
“Some of that economic assistance was provided in the form of loans, and we had the option under the bill to cancel that – those loans at our discretion,” Miller said on Wednesday. “So we have taken the step that was outlined in the law to cancel those loans.”
Miller explained that the Biden administration was doing so under congressional approval. Lawmakers in Congress passed a near-$60 billion Ukraine aid package in April including approximately $10 billion in loans, which Kyiv would technically be obligated to pay back. But the bill included a provision that allowed the debt to be forgiven completely by 2026.
President Joe Biden is planning to use the remainder of his term to forgive $4.7 billion of those loans. But Miller noted that Congress could pass a resolution to stonewall Biden officials from forgiving the debt.
Some lawmakers are already attempting to do so. Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie introduced a resolution on Wednesday to block Biden from forgiving the loan, though it will need enough votes in both the House and the Senate to be passed.
“On his way out, Joe Biden is trying to forgive $4.65 billion of debt Ukraine owes America’s taxpayers,” Massie said on Wednesday, adding that he introduced the bill “to stop this ‘America Last’ policy from taking effect.”
Separately, Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul forced a vote on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday to stop Biden from forgiving the debt, but “Sadly, the Ukraine 1st, America Last Caucus defeated my resolution,” he said in a statement.
The decision to forgive part of Ukraine’s debt speaks to Biden’s last-ditch effort to throw as much U.S. support behind Kyiv as he can before he leaves office in just months, even if his options to help are limited. Reports emerged over the weekend that Biden officials had recently given Ukraine the green light to start using U.S.-provided long-range missiles to strike targets deep inside Russian territory.
That move surprised some national security experts, given the Biden administration has been hesitant for years to allow Ukraine to use the missiles for such purposes. The administration had previously expressed concern that allowing Ukraine to use U.S.-provided long-range missiles for strikes inside Russia would only escalate the war without providing Ukraine with any tangible strategic advantage.
The Biden administration also recently allowed Ukraine to scatter U.S.-provided antipersonnel mines across its countryside, as was reported on Wednesday, despite the mines being subject to international scrutiny given the risk they pose to civilians.
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