From WWW.FOXNEWS.COM
Congress on Thursday took a step toward allowing Ukraine to delay payments on the hundreds of billions of dollars it has borrowed from the U. S., European nations, and others around the world.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2023 passed the House Thursday afternoon in a 350-80 vote. Included in that 4,400-page bill is a section on “Ukraine Debt Payment Relief.”
That section says the U. S. treasury secretary will instruct U.S. representatives of international financial institutions to “use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to advocate that the respective institution immediately provide appropriate debt service relief to Ukraine.”
It instructs Treasury to commence “immediate efforts” with other governments and commercial creditors to “pursue comprehensive debt payment relief for Ukraine.”
The language talks only about debt payment relief, and not forgiveness of the assistance given to Ukraine this year to defend itself from to Russia’s invasion.
The U. S. is by far the largest contributor of aid to Ukraine, in the form of weapons, equipment, logistics support, training and other aid to the war-torn country. The U.S. has also provided billions of dollars in economic support to Ukraine, enough to account for a majority of Ukraine’s annual budget…. (Read more)
