Congress passes bill that could unlock billions in frozen Russian assets for Ukraine
Last edited Sat Apr 20, 2024, 02:18 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: NBC News
April 20, 2024, 11:15 AM EDT
The House passed a foreign aid package on Saturday as well as what's called the REPO Act that will allow the Biden administration to confiscate billions of dollars’ worth of Russian assets sitting in U.S. banks and transfer them to Ukraine for reconstruction.
“By delivering urgently needed aid to Ukraine, the United States has reasserted itself as the leader of the free world and as a reliable partner to its allies," said Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y. "The US has a singular obligation to help freedom fighters fight for their freedom, and nowhere more so than in Ukraine, whose self-defense against Putin’s aggression must prevail."
The REPO Act, which would authorize Biden to confiscate the frozen Russian assets in U.S. banks and transfer them to a special fund for Ukraine, is part of the foreign aid package that was stalled for months in the House. More than $6 billion of the $300 billion in frozen Russian assets are sitting in U.S. banks. Most of the $300 billion are in Germany, France and Belgium.
On Wednesday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson released the package which would include tens of billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. “I’m going to a allow an opportunity for every single member of the House to vote their conscience and their will on this,” Johnson told reporters, defending his decision to allow the vote to go forward Saturday.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/house-vote-billions-dollars-russian-government-money-sitting-us-banks-rcna148671
Article updated.
Original article/headline -
April 20, 2024, 11:15 AM EDT
Hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of frozen Russian government assets are sitting in banks across the U.S. and Europe and on Saturday a vote is expected in the House of Representatives that would pave the way for President Joe Biden to confiscate billions of them and hand it over to Ukraine.
“Somebody has to pay for reconstruction,” said former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, a proponent of using the Russian assets to help Ukraine, in an interview Friday. “And I think it should be Putin, not the American people.”
The REPO Act, which would authorize Biden to confiscate the frozen Russian assets in U.S. banks and transfer them to a special fund for Ukraine, is part of the foreign aid package that has been stalled for months in the House. More than $6 billion of the $300 billion in frozen Russian assets are sitting in U.S. banks. Most of the $300 billion are in Germany, France and Belgium.
On Wednesday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson released the package which would include tens of billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. “I’m going to a allow an opportunity for every single member of the House to vote their conscience and their will on this,” Johnson told reporters, defending his decision to allow the vote to go forward Saturday.
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