Should the U.S. Start a Lend-Lease Program to Help Ukraine Defend Itself From Russia’s Invasion & Bolster Eastern European Allies to Deter Further Aggression? (S.3522)
Do you support or oppose this bill?
Bill Status
- The Senate passed this bill as amended with a voice vote on April 6, 2022.
- The House passed this bill on a 417-10 vote on April 28, 2022.
What is S. 3522?
This bill — the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 — would temporarily waive requirements on the president’s authority to lend or lease defense articles if they’re intended for Ukraine’s government or the governments of other Eastern European countries affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The governments of Ukraine and affected European countries would be able to use the Lend-Lease program to obtain military equipment and other related supplies to bolster their defensive capabilities and protect civilians from ongoing aggression by Russia or potential invasion, respectively. These waivers would remain in effect for fiscal years 2022 and 2023.
Specifically, the bill would waive provisions of law that typically apply to Lend-Lease agreements, including those that generally prohibit the use of loans with repayment periods longer than five years; and which require receiving countries to pay all costs incurred by the U.S. in leasing the defense equipment. Any loan or lease of defense articles to Ukraine would be subject to applicable laws concerning the return of and reimbursement and repayment for defense articles loaned or leased to foreign governments.
Additionally, the bill would require the president to establish expedited procedures within 60 days to ensure the timely delivery of defense articles loaned or leased under this bill.
Argument in favor
This bipartisan bill would create a Lend-Lease program that would bypass certain requirements to help Ukraine quickly access the military equipment its armed forces need to defeat Russia’s invasion and secure Ukraine’s democracy and independence. It would also deter Russia from further aggression by allowing U.S. allies in Eastern European to use the Lend-Lease program to bolster their own defenses. The Lend-Lease program under this bill gives Ukraine the best chance of defeating Russia’s aggression and deterring Putin from expanding the war to NATO allies in Eastern European.
Argument opposed
While it may be bipartisan, creating a Lend-Lease program to provide military equipment to Ukraine and other Eastern European partners is a step above what the U.S. has been doing to support those countries against Russian aggression. That could prompt Russia to widen the conflict. Given the ongoing U.S. support for Ukraine and other countries, Lend-Lease may not provide a bigger benefit and could risk worsening the situation by leading to the war’s expansion.
Impact
The government of Ukraine and its military; governments of Eastern European countries affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and their militaries; the Dept. of Defense; U.S. defense industries; and the president.
Cost
The CBO doesn’t have a sufficient basis to estimate this bill’s effects on federal spending because it doesn’t have enough information about how the administration would use authorities under the bill.
Additional Info
In-Depth: Sponsoring Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced this bill to authorize a Lend-Lease program to provide military equipment to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He offered the following statement after it unanimously passed the Senate:
“How we address a threat against one democracy’s sovereignty sends a message about how we’ll act on others, and adversaries like China are watching. If we believe America supports freedom and democracy, we must provide Ukraine with the weapons necessary to protect its citizens, and I urge the House to pass this legislation as soon as possible lest our promises to our allies ring hollow.”
Original cosponsor Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) added:
“We introduced this measure in January as part of a broad campaign to deter Russia from making a terrible mistake, which the Kremlin has nevertheless now done. This horrific, unnecessary, and unprovoked war against Ukraine has to end - with Ukraine prevailing against Russia’s aggression. Our bipartisan bill streamlines the president’s ability to bolster Ukraine’s defenses, defend innocent civilians and also to protect our frontline NATO allies who may become targets of a desperate Vladimir Putin.”
The Senate passed this bill on a voice vote on April 6th with the support of 21 bipartisan cosponsors, including 14 Republicans, six Democrats, and one Independent (Sen. Angus King of Maine).
Of Note: Lend-Lease played a major role in aiding the Allied war effort against Germany, Italy, and Japan both before and after the U.S. entered World War II in December 1941. It helped the Allies wage war against Germany and in the process jump-started the U.S. defense industrial base prior to America’s entry into the war.
The U.S. pursued a policy of isolationism and non-interventionism through much of the 1930s and remained neutral after Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, an act that prompted Britain and France to enter the war against Germany. When war erupted in Europe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt began to work with Congress to gradually roll back various neutrality laws that restricted U.S. defense exports.
This initially began as a “cash and carry” program in which Britain would pay the U.S. in cash and gold for defense articles and also take responsibility for transporting them across the Atlantic. There was also a Destroyers for Bases Agreement of 1940 in which 50 U.S. Navy were transferred to Britain and Canada in exchange for basing rights in the Caribbean and Newfoundland, Canada. As Britain’s liquid currency assets dwindled and the war raged on, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill continued to lobby FDR for more aid and pleaded, “Give us the tools and we’ll finish the job.”
During the Battle of Britain in September 1940, Britain sent the Tizard Mission to initiate a technology-sharing program with the U.S. because Britain’s domestic industrial resources were already fully committed to its wartime mobilization and America’s industrial capacity was still revving up. The sharing included key technology for radar, a jet engine design, fuzes, gunsights, rockets, plastic explosives, and a memorandum on the feasibility of an atomic bomb.
As WWII entered its second year, U.S. public opinion shifted to support more aid to the Allies and Roosevelt made his famous declaration that the U.S. would become the “Arsenal of Democracy” in December 1940. FDR signed Lend-Lease into law in March 1941 after it passed Congress despite opposition by isolationist lawmakers. As Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during debate on the bill, it was clearly viewed as a means of helping America’s ally stay in the fight while the U.S. began to mobilize its military might if the country was drawn into the war directly:
“We are buying… not lending. We are buying our own security while we prepare. By our delay during the past six years, while Germany was preparing, we find ourselves unprepared and unarmed, facing a thoroughly prepared and armed potential enemy.”
While Lend-Lease initially applied to the United Kingdom, the British Commonwealth, and Free France, it quickly expanded to the Republic of China in April, and later to the Soviet Union in October. It continued after December 1941 when the U.S. entered the war following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
Lend-Lease included the provision of warships, warplanes, weaponry, food, medicine, and other equipment and supplies. A total of $50.1 billion (roughly $690 billion in 2020 dollars) worth of supplies were shipped to three dozen countries under Lend-Lease, accounting for roughly 17% of all U.S. wartime expenditures. The largest recipients were Britain and its Commonwealth with $31.3 billion; the Soviet Union with $10.9 billion; France with $3.2 billion; and the Republic of China with $1.6 billion. Britain and its Commonwealth also provided Reverse Lend-Lease and supplied the U.S. with nearly $8 billion in war material.
Tell your reps how to vote on this bill!
Media:
- Sponsoring Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) Press Release
- Sponsoring Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) Press Release (Introduction)
- Sponsoring Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) Press Release (Senate Passage)
- CBO Cost Estimate
- Causes
- Bill Text (Amended) - Congress.gov
Summary by Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Austin Fraley via DVIDSHUB / Public Domain)
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It remains important that the US and allied democracies fully support Ukraine in their effort to expel the Russians from their country since the putin’s actions are a threat to world order, international law and democracies everywhere. There has to consequences for the putin’s actions and the inability or the unwillingness of his inner circle to remove him. The Russian invaders must not only be expelled from Ukraine; they must be soundly beaten and humiliated or they will just try again. I would like Ukraine to force the putin or his successors to unconditionally surrender with the condition that frozen Russian assets be transferred to Ukraine as repetitions for Russian war crimes. I admit that is a tall order but I wouLd sure like to see it.
One thing that has not got a lot of attention is the clear benefit to world democracies for a Ukrainian victory could be the end of the putin’s hidden disinformation assault and other meddling with western democracies. The putin has been exploiting the freedoms of ‘open’ democracies for at least a decade to foment dissent and distrust of the collective institutions that democracies require to properly function and a sound defeat of the unprovoked Russian aggression in Ukraine opens the door to stopping Russia’s ongoing secret war with the world’s democracies.
For example, the Republican Senate led intelligence committee under the trump, concluded that Russia did interfere with the 2016 elections and was interfering on social media in 2020 to support the trump. (The Republican Chair of Intelligence Committee was the only one of many Congress people who used early intelligence reports for their personal stock market financial benefit, to be charged with the crime of insider trading - as punishment for leading his fact-based report). The trump’s national security people concluded that the Russian’s were using social media to foment dissent and swing the electorate in favor of the trump in the 2020 election as well - a report that the trump had buried and which was not found in government archives until after the election.
In early 2016, when the Presidential primaries were starting, McCarthy and Paul Ryan attended a closed-door meeting with the former Ukrainian Prime Minister where the Russian tactics of finding, funding, supporting and co-opting a populous candidate in Ukrainian politics was discussed. The openness of democracy's social media was leveraged by Russia to steer elections in support of their candidates who would begin to systematically degrade and disable the institutions and agencies that kept those democracies functional. It appears to have been the putin’s tactic that has transformed several several European democracies into to putin sympathizing autocracies. It also appears to be a factor in the rise of Le Pen in France, who publicly endorse the putin and politically runs kind of a ‘Make France Great Again’ campaign. She has been closing the gap with Macron and getting increasing political influence generally as well as increased support in French Presidential elections.
McCarthy, after the meeting with the former Ukrainian Prime Minister, became convinced that the trump was, in fact, such a Russian agent and tried to convince Republican leadership of this, only to be told to keep quiet and keep this information 'in the family'.
McCarthy adimantly denied all of this when it was publicly reported in 2017 - until a phone recording from 2016 was released of him trying to convince Republican leadership that the trump was 'working' for Russia. The RNC and their minions went politically silent on this afterwards. Look it up.
According to the management of the company hired to investigate the trump's ties to Russia, they were hired to do this by the RNC when the Republican primariies were underway. Their initial studies were mostly complete when the trump won the nomination and the RNC pulled all funding. The management then went to the DNC for funding to finish compiling their findings and produce a final report which included the infamous Steele Dossier.
History repeats with McCarthy and other Republican base-pandering follower-‘leaders’ who were outraged and frightened by the trump’s attempted coup and initially reacted viscerally to it, only to change their tune shorty afterwards in order to secure the vote of the trump’s rabid base - whose views are heavily influenced by an American national (and acquaintance of Roger Stone) computer nerd in the Philippines who was and presumably still is the persona of the infamous Q.
Of course, after the insurrection, McCarthy denied reporting that he told Republican House leadership that he was going to tell the trump that the trump had to immediately resign and later that the trump had since assumed some responsibility for the insurrection. Then another phone recording of him saying all of that was released.
These are some of the reasons that I no longer have an ounce of respect for the formerly principled Republican Party. They stand for nothing more than winning the next election. Period. They have no political platform or ideology and they knowingly and are often caught lying, cheating and contradicting themselves in order to remain in power- including repurposing Russia designed disinformation as a means to ‘win their war’ and defeat their Democratic enemies.
I am not saying that the Democratic Party is perfect or that it is not tainted by actions of some if it’s members, because it is. But the Democratic Party has not institutionalized these disgusting practices nor hired political consultants to fine-tune and regiment their unethical practices. Democrats still by-and-large still propose legislation for the support and benefit of the American people and the country; while the Republican Cult remains focused on preserving nothing else beyond it’s own political power and political influence to be sold to the highest bidder. This appalls me as does the wanton, well-coordinated, and highly regimented lies they collectively tell to the American people.
While I believe that there are some principled politicians within the Republican Party, they are afraid to speak up lest the RNC politically punish them.
Their silence IS compliance.
The silent Republicans share the shame, guilt and disgust that comes from supporting their political party before supporting our country.
The entire Republican Cult needs to be politically excised from government everywhere so that a principled Conservative party, one that plays by the rules and is willing to collaborate and compromise with what they should see as their Democratic colleagues, can emerge from the ashes. The Democratic Party will need to lick it’s wounds to proactively and equitably work with a Conservative party willing to work collaboratively, govern for our country’s interests and not just for their party’s, and abide by the formerly established norms which has held our democracy together for centuries.
Only then will our country be ensured that the putin’s corruption of our democracy has been eliminated and that there will no longer be any ‘return’ to the putin or his successors for investing in the disruption of our government.
Haven't heard much about the Cyber War going on in Ukraine. A little insight. Appears it's been a long game on both sides with lots of info hacked both ways.
Make sure Russia doesn't win.
GO 🇺🇦
#ArmUkraineNow.
https://apnews.com/article/fa3f88e07e51bcaf81bac8a40c4da141
It's time to take care of America and let Europe handle this. We are trillions in debt. The Biden administration and his liberals are spending and spending. We don't have anymore money. Biden neeeds to ask Suckersberg for a loan if he wants to borrow anymore money. We got a fentanyl epidemic, homeless in every major city, 18,000 illegal migrants crossing our southern border daily, food processing plants mysteriously burning down. What has Biden done since he took office? Nothing but spend and play the race card.
Dear Representatives,
We again most urgently implore you to vote for H.R.6753 - the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022, the companion bill to S.3522 - the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 already passed in the Senate.
Please do what you can to speed the delivery of the weapons and critical supplies needed by Ukraine’s military as it defends against and counterattacks Russia’s brutal invasion forces.
Best Regards
Need to send enough aid to enable Ukraine to push Russia out of Ukraine. Anything less will just prolong the war.
NATO & US need to keep troops out of Ukraine and avoid engaging Russian military as that will trigger a wider war.
Russia is already responding to NATO aide by
1) weaponizing oil & weaponizing immigration (Syrian & Ukrainian refugees) in Europe, and is quite possibly responsible for weaponizing South & Central American immigration to the US Southern border.
2) bombing western Ukraine and rail lines to try to stop aide getting to eastern Ukraine where the ground fight us.
https://www.thedialogue.org/analysis/what-are-russias-military-intentions-in-latin-america/
https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/weaponizing-human-migration/
This has got to be the most blatantly criminal thing I've seen our government ever do, I think. Putting it right there, in your face, this is. A lend/lease program for weapons of war, seriously?? We are talking about killing people (that's the ONLY purpose for these things), not furniture or cars, for godsake! PEOPLE! To profiteer from war is SO wrong, on SO many levels, and now this is to be ok for our representatives to openly make this our business, the rent-a-center of death and destruction? This is psychopathic sickness. People are so blinded by propaganda, they say go for it, flags a-waving. So stupid. And just WHO does this benefit, other than those waging war?? Will I profit, or my schools, or community?? Will I see improvement in anything in this country?? Or will this just improve the lives of a select, already wealthy few, to get even more wealthy while all others, if not victims of a war, just get poorer?? We have still crumbling infrastructure, failing education and healthcare systems, and a government whose efforts go toward making war to profit they and their friends. How utterly shameful this country has become. WE are the evil in this world. If not for us, war could not exist as it does today. We are wrong. This is not what we are supposed to be. It's so ugly. I truly morn for my country.
Please support this measure
War is when completely innocent people die for the interests of others.
https://www.mycause.com.au/page/283105/help-victims-in-ukraine
YES! Democracy must be supporte.
On another note I would like to know why Representative Jim Jordan is it right now at this moment sitting in a prison cell awaiting trial for high treason against the United States of America. This man is garbage this man tried to overthrow The government of this country. This is something that has been unheard of in the last 200 years and this man should be charged for it and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. It's bullshit it's time for it to stop it's time to call people like Jim Jordan on the carpet and make them accountable for their actions against this nation.
Support
This bipartisan bill would create a Lend-Lease program that would bypass certain requirements to help Ukraine quickly access the military equipment its armed forces need to defeat Russia’s invasion and secure Ukraine’s democracy and independence. It would also deter Russia from further aggression by allowing U.S. allies in Eastern European to use the Lend-Lease program to bolster their own defenses. The Lend-Lease program under this bill gives Ukraine the best chance of defeating Russia’s aggression and deterring Putin from expanding the war to NATO allies in Eastern European.
Let's make sure We have the accurate information from Our nice counterpart Donald Trump who had his first meeting with President Putin in 2017 then Saudi Arabia, China, and North Korea???
please Guys gals
lets make sure both parties are on same page
amen 🙏🏿
Do everything possible to crush Putins Russia.
Phone Log: 4/21/2022
Ukraine, please hold. Nancy Pelosi sent the House members on vacation. We are sorry for the inconvience.
Phone Log: 4/28/2022
Ukraine, sorry to keep you waiting. All our members are busy doing ....who knows what. It is estimated that your call may be answered sometime today. Either remain on the phone or call back later.