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The invasion of Russia to Ukraine earlier this year shocked all nations of the civilized world, urging governments and international organizations to provide military and humanitarian aid to Ukrainians. For example, the federal government of the United States has recently provided over $40 billion in response to Russian aggression to aid Ukraine in protecting the country and helping refugees find safe residence (Congress.gov, 2022b). In fact, the latter will receive full assistance with immigration and resettlement (Shahin, 2022). This aid was provided after President Biden signed the H.R.7691 act on Ukraine supplemental appropriation on May 21, 2022 (Shahin, 2022). During these frightening times for the people of Ukraine, financial, military, and administrative support was essential to help them withstand this ruthless invasion. This paper aims to discuss this act from the moment of its introduction to the Senate to its current status, including the bill-making process, its contents, and political debates related to this legislation. H.R.7691 act was a timely and appropriate measure of American policymakers responding to the threat to global peace that developed from the Ukrainian-Russian armed conflict, but the debate around this bill is still ongoing.
Introducing the Act in the Senate and the Presidents Approval: The Timeline
Since the time when Russia brought its military forces to Ukrainian territory, the United States and European countries strived to provide all the necessary support to Ukraine without directly interfering in this war. Indeed, it was a wise approach not to initiate a more significant conflict that may outgrow globally, leading to, feared by many, the third World War. This bill was introduced to the House of Representatives on May 10, 2022, and underwent several amendments before going to Senate and then to the President (GovTrack, 2022). In fact, this act passed the House the same day and was sent for further evaluation to the Senate.
The prevailing number of the senators, where the discussion could take a long time, voted for the act. The bill passed the Senate by the Yea-Nay vote of 86 to 11 on May 19, 2022, and was subsequently presented to the Presidents office (Congress.gov, 2022a). This act soon, particularly on May 21, was approved by the President and released as a public law under the number 117-128 (GovTrack, 2022). It appears that the voting ratio in the House and Senate, as well as President Bidens quick response, demonstrated that the U.S. government is prepared to provide all the necessary help to Ukrainians.
The Bill-Making Process
Although the decision regarding this act was made relatively quickly, the bill-making process itself was an arduous journey since it was related to providing significant finances for external purposes, which could lead to public upheaval. When the H.R.7691 was first introduced to the House, like any other act, it underwent revision by the Committee of Appropriation and the Committee on the Budget (Congress.gov, 2022a). Since it was an increased interest in this bill, the Committees, after a thorough evaluation, recommended it to the House. Following a debate to discuss the proposed amendments to the bill, it passed the House with a voting ratio of 368 to 57 for versus against (Congress.gov, 2022a). The predominance of the yes votes was impressive in view of the fact that all members of the House must vote for the law to be passed within a limited period.
After being approved in the House, the bill was sent for the Senates consideration. Despite the delays in voting caused by the resistance from the Republicans, the majority in the Senate supported the act, and the effective date for it was established to be September 30, 2022 (Congress.gov, 2022a). Still, even in the Senate, the debates did not last long, in this case, even if there were no strict time limitations for the upper chamber. Lastly, the law was signed by the President and made public.
The Role of the House and Senate
The approval from both chambers must be received for a legislative act to be presented to the President of the United States, who may either sign or veto the law. As the abovementioned process of passing this bill showed, the case of H.R.7691 was not an exception. However, the power and roles that these two chambers play in producing legislation are different. The House, which is primarily presented by the dominant party, requires a predominance of votes to accept or decline the law (Ballard, 2022). On the other hand, the higher chambers approval requires every individual senators vote to pass a bill (Ballard, 2022). Still, the fact that the bill became law within one month is unusual, but taking into account the urgency and complexity of the situation, it is not surprising.
As it could be observed from the timeline, since this situation was an emergency, the House made the decision within one day, while it took one week for the Senate to vote. The Democrats, currently the ruling party, showed their full sympathy for this issue, but the Republicans were not as supportive of their enthusiasm. Hence, it took slightly longer to reach a consensus in the Senate because of the delayed vote from one of the Republican senators (House Committee on Appropriations [HCA], 2022). Still, the voting was relatively fast, probably due to the understanding of the difficulty of this political situation that demands immediate actions from the world leaders.
The Role of the Presidency
The President played the concluding role in releasing this act, which intended to help millions of Ukrainians. The ultimate right of the presidency is to accept and sign or decline the policy submitted by Congress (Shahin, 2022). Notably, the President of the U.S. has only ten days to provide ones verdict on the presented bill (United States House of Representatives, n.d.). President Biden, whose position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine was made clear from the very beginning, signed the act within two legislative days (Weissert & Miller, 2022). In fact, it reflected the readiness of the U.S. government to provide all the necessary help for Ukrainians to win without being directly involved in this unnecessary and unjustifiable military conflict.
President Joe Bidens attitude towards this issue was made clear to the press multiple times. Indeed, he called Russias actions genocide against Ukrainians and claimed that Vladimir Putin should no longer remain in power in his country (Weissert & Miller, 2022). Although some leaders, like French President Emmanuel Macron, known to have warm political relations with Russia, did not agree with such a strong definition of the events, Biden preserved his viewpoint (Weissert & Miller, 2022). Thus, financial and military support has already been sent to Ukraine, and it is planned to continue the assistance. Moreover, the President asserted that apart from the economic sanctions imposed on Russia, it is essential to continue the international dialogue, which was poorly maintained by Putin (Kunertova & Masuhr, 2022). This act not only set an example for other political leaders but showed that maintaining global peace is of primary importance to the United States.
The President highlighted the importance of supporting Ukraine and returning the U.S. leadership positions in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Bidens attempts to allocate resources to resolve this conflict were recognized as the comeback of the United States to the transatlantic partnership, which was somewhat weakened during the past four years (Kunertova & Masuhr, 2022). In fact, this bill was additional proof of the seriousness of the Presidents actions.
Current Status of the H.R.7691 Act
This bill aimed to provide additional funding to help Ukraine purchase medications, vaccines, diagnostic tests, food, and other vital resources for the population. Since the law has already been signed, the hope is that Ukrainians, especially in the occupied regions and areas of active armed conflict, will be able to have access to the essential products (HCA, 2022). Furthermore, the $40 billion provided to Ukraine is dedicated to bringing more weapons and intelligence assistance to push the Russian army out of the country (Pramas, 2022). The economy of Ukraine is in acute crisis because of the war; thus, this financial aid is crucial to help its government to take care of the citizens during the war-induced economic recession.
These funds are not only given to help Ukrainians continue this war, which is the least desired possibility considering the wish of the people to end it. Instead, this money will allow assist refugees in relocating to other European states that graciously provide safe harbor for them (Shahin, 2022). Funds are needed to support the Ukrainian army since it is unwise and unethical to remain passive while invaders take control of the country, destroying its cities, murdering civilians, and ruining the economy. The H.R.7691 act is currently in effect, which means that active assistance is being provided to the people of Ukraine in all domains: military, economic, healthcare, and diplomatic.
Content of the Bill
The bill is divided into six parts: salaries and expenses, military support, nuclear regulatory commission, public health agencies, department of state, and funds transfer. The first part of the act states that $67 million will be provided for salaries of the personnel that assists Ukraine in combatting the Russian invasion (Public Law 117-128, 2022, p. 1). The second part states that $12.75 million will be given to military personnel (Public Law 117-128, 2022, p. 2). This money is not the only amount allocated because separate subsections discuss various goals and funds to attain them. For instance, maintenance of the army will need about $1.5 billion, the navy will receive approximately $1 billion, and $195 million will be provided to the air force (Public Law 117-128, 2022, p. 2). According to the third section of this bill, $2 million is assigned to the special nuclear regulatory commission (Public Law 117-128, 2022, p. 7). The first three parts of this law seem to be dedicated to military support.
The subsequent sections are related to humanitarian and diplomatic assistance. The fourth title states that the health and human services department will receive $54 million for public well-being programs at the site of the armed conflict (Public Law 117-128, 2022, p. 7). Furthermore, $900 million is allocated to help Ukrainian refugees (Public Law 117-128, 2022, p. 7). The fifth part attests that diplomatic programs need $190 million (Public Law 117-128, 2022, p. 9). Lastly, $20 million are appropriated to the Department of Agriculture to aid in the nutrition program, and almost $9 billion will be available for economic support (Public Law 117-128, 2022, pp. 10-13). Overall, each section describes how much funds are allocated for a specific purpose.
Political Debates About the Act
Despite a relative agreement about this situation in Ukraine, the speed at which this legislation was passed caused a vibrant discussion among political observers. The first argument against this act was that the United States has many people who live in poverty without access to proper housing, healthy nutrition, and medical care (Pramas, 2022). Others state that the U.S. Army left Afghanistan after more than twenty years of occupation, leaving this small country in ruins; however, no financial aid has yet been given to restore its economy (Pramas, 2022). Furthermore, they assert that additional help is unnecessary since Ukraine has already received $54 billion from the members of NATO and international banks (Pramas, 2022). These two arguments are legitimate because billions of dollars are dedicated not only to humanitarian and diplomatic aid but also to military support. In fact, as the discussion of the contents of the law showed earlier in this paper, the majority of funds are allocated to Army maintenance.
The fact that the federal government quickly provides funds for weaponry is the most debatable. On the one hand, it can be justified that Russian forces are superior to Ukraines; hence, the latter needs external help to fight the aggressor. Indeed, this argument played a fundamental role for all Massachusetts congresspeople to vote in favor of the H.R.7691 act (Pramas, 2022). On the other hand, these measures may result in a larger armed conflict that will involve the U.S. and other European states, which should be prevented at all costs (Pramas, 2022). Fortunately, all NATO countries, including the United States, assured that they have no intentions to be directly involved in this ground war with Russia to prevent further escalation of the conflict (Kunertova & Masuhr, 2022). Sill, a greater emphasis should be placed on diplomatic missions to stop this war and force Putin to remove Russian soldiers and armors from the lands of Ukraine.
Dispute Between the Parties about Helping Ukraine
The response of the two parties, Republicans and Democrats, apparently was not the same to this issue, considering the long history of the unending competition. In fact, during voting in the Senate, the delayed answers came from Republicans, which somewhat summarizes this partys attitude to the role of the U.S. in this war (Vance, 2022). Democrats claim this legislative action was not about supporting another war but about helping people protect their lands and find refuge in the U.S. and Europe (Vance, 2022). Even some anti-war Democrats, like Barbara Lee, voted in favor of this law because they believed it was critical to helping the people of Ukraine, suffering from the consequences of the Russian invasion (Vance, 2022). Furthermore, many of the congresspeople assert that these measures are critical because Moscow does not seem to be open to discussion (Vance, 2022). The Democratic partys perspective appears universal among all members since no objection was reported from its representatives in Congress.
The Republicans and some independent parties seemed reluctant to support this legislation. There are several reasons for their opposition, and some are likely political. It may be explained by the long history of rivalry between the two parties. Moreover, the opponents of this bill attest that $40 billion is equivalent to giving about $70,000 to every homeless individual in the United States or repairing 220,000 bridges (Pramas, 2022, para. 12). Furthermore, they claim that many Americans need financial assistance with covering medical bills because many still lack health insurance (Pramas, 2022). This point may be legitimate, but it does not seem humane when considering the war refugees who are in desperate need of all the support the world can provide. Therefore, it is the moral responsibility of other countries, including the United States, to help them.
The Global Impact of the Bill
The H.R.7691 act had a substantial impact both domestically and internationally. Although some groups in the United States questioned the need to interfere in this situation, most Americans supported the governments decision (Pramas, 2022). Since the time when Vladimir Putin announced his perspective on Ukrainian identity and potential land unification, it was clear that the objective discussion would be nearly impossible with Moscow and its supporters (Mankoff, 2022). In fact, before the invasion and subsequent fierce resistance, the President of Russia assumed that most people in Ukraine supported the idea of a joint Russian nation (Mankoff, 2022). This apparent delusion made him start the war that resulted in tremendous economic losses for Russia and compromised the countrys international reputation. Therefore, the actions of the United States, specifically the material support it provided to Ukrainians, were of utmost importance since it was the only way to demonstrate to Putin the fallacy of his ideas. Considering the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, the only way is to support the former and show the latter that one has no right to invade a sovereign state.
Conclusion
In summary, the H.R.7691 act, according to which $40 billion will be provided for military and humanitarian support of Ukraine to combat Russian aggression. The bill became the law by going through a proposal process in the House, review by multiple committees, debates and voting in the two chambers of Congress, and presentation to the President. In this case, the law was passed within one month, which is considered fast because most bills are rejected at various stages. Notably, President Biden signed this legislation within two days. Despite the resistance from some Republican senators and political disputes on the web about the necessity of this law, it was ratified, resulting in the provision of additional funds to Ukrainians. In fact, the opponents claimed that such a tremendous amount of money would bring more benefits domestically, improving infrastructure, helping homeless individuals, and saving those who lack medical insurance. On the other hand, the promoters of this act stated that helping Ukraine has geopolitical importance. They assert that Putins actions should be violently stopped to prevent the escalation of this conflict to the dimensions of the third World War.
References
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Congress.gov. (2022b). H.R.7691 Additional Ukraine supplemental appropriations act, 2022. Web.
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Vance, L. M. (2022). And then there were three. The future of freedom foundation. Web.
Weissert, W., & Miller, Z. (2022). Biden: Russia war is genocide, trying to wipe out Ukraine. A.P. News. Web.
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