(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has apparently adopted Barack Obama’s “Yes we can!” campaign slogan when it comes to answering questions about whether the U.S. government can afford to fund wars in both Ukraine and the Middle East.
Yellen was recently asked whether the U.S. can afford another war given its precarious fiscal position. National debt has skyrocketed to $33 trillion, and rising interest rates now have the debt increasing by about $1 trillion every three months.
But that’s not a problem, according to Yellen.
“Absolutely, American can afford to stand with Israel and to support Israel’s military needs. And we also can and must support Ukraine in its struggle against Russia,” said Yellen, who is Jewish.
In the same interview, the Treasury Secretary also claimed that “the American economy is doing extremely well.” Her comment was made on the heels of a higher-than-expected inflation report.
At least for now, the Biden administration reportedly looks to support both Ukraine and Israel—as well as Taiwain. The Washington Post reported last week that the White House planned to link aid for the three countries in an effort to “jam the far right”—forcing MAGA Republicans to choose between fiscal responsibility and supporting ostensible allies.
However, White House spokesperson John Kirby has signaled that the end of funding for Ukraine could be near.
“We’re coming here to the end of the rope. Today we announced $200 million, and we’ll keep that aid going as long as we can,” he said last week. “But it’s not going to be indefinite.”
Kirby told reporters “active conversations” are going on to aid all three countries.
“I’m not prepared to detail those conversations for you right now or, or tell you what the parameters are going to be, because, frankly, those parameters haven’t been yet arrived at or even decided upon, but we are in active discussions about additional funding,” he reportedly said.
Antiwar.com editor Dave DeCamp said the size of the supplemental package President Biden will request is unclear.
“He previously asked for an additional $24 billion to fund the Ukraine war, but it was never approved by Congress,” DeCamp wrote Thursday. “The administration has been discussing the idea of a full-year spending package for Ukraine that could be as large as $100 billion, an idea popular among hawks in the Senate.”
The House needs to appoint a speaker before it can consider Biden’s aid package.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
