EXCLUSIVE: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday is expected to urge Congress to “act quickly” to provide additional support to Ukraine, and warn that a failure to act would “hand a victory” to Russian President Vladimir Putin and would have “unthinkable consequences” for the U.S. and its allies.
Yellen is set to host European Commission Executive Vice Presidents Margrethe Vestager and Valdis Dombrovskis at the Treasury Department on Wednesday to discuss the “importance” of collective support for Ukraine.
Fox News Digital exclusively obtained Yellen’s prepared remarks she plans to deliver at the start of the meeting.
UNITED STATES – MARCH 16: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies during the Senate Finance Committee hearing on the The Presidents Fiscal Year 2024 Budget, in Dirksen Building on Thursday, March 16, 2023. (Tom Williams)
“Europe has been a key partner in the effort to impose increasing costs on Russia through putting in place multiple sanctions packages, implementing a novel oil price cap, and cracking down on sanctions evasion,” she is expected to say. “In Ukraine, our financial support is inextricably linked to success on the battlefield. It helps underpin Ukraine’s war effort.”
Yellen will add: “Simply put, we cannot allow Ukraine to run out of money before it runs out of ammunition.”
Yellen is expected to thank the European Union for its “strong” partnership, and tout the more than $54 billion combined in direct budget support to Ukraine since 2022.
The Biden administration is currently requesting an additional $11.8 billion in budget support from Congress for Ukraine.
Yellen on Wednesday is expected to urge Congress to “act quickly to provide support to Ukraine, including through direct budget assistance.”
“Failure to act would hand a victory to President Putin and have unthinkable consequences not only for Ukraine, but also for our collective security,” she is expected to say. “Failure to act would hand a victory to President Putin and have unthinkable consequences not only for Ukraine, but also for our collective security.”
While meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen doubled down on the Biden administration’s commitment to providing the war-torn nation financial aid. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
Yellen is also expected to echo remarks made by Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky that the support is “not charity” but an “investment” in the national security of the United States and its allies.
But in her expected plea to Congress, Yellen is set to explain that U.S. budget support “benefits from an unprecedented level of robust oversight and transparency—an issue of great importance to Congress and the Administration—and additional support would be conditioned on Ukraine making essential reforms.”
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“We will continue to urge Congress to act, and we are proud to stand alongside our European partners in this vital work,” she is expected to say.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has been trying to secure a deal for months with White House officials to unlock $60 billion of aid to assist Ukraine’s war with Russia that’s included in the national security supplemental bill. The Department of Defense has already depleted its available funds earmarked for Ukraine without needing approval from Congress.
Source: www.foxnews.com