Even though urgent action is needed to assist Ukraine, Congress has taken the weekend off
Louis Seagray
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The mind just boggles.
We may well be on the cusp of a world wide nuclear war, and our elected officials have decided to go grab a little well-deserved R&R to help deal with the daily pressure of running our well-oiled Gum’Ment.
Despite bipartisan calls for immediate congressional action on an emergency aid package for Ukraine, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Thursday gave lawmakers the weekend off.
Several Democrats, excluding Pelosi and Schumer of course, were outraged, especially with Ukraine grappling with a multipronged Russian invasion.
“We need to pass it today. … They need to call us back in, and those who can’t come back can vote remotely, but we’ve got to pass it,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, California Democrat. “Every day, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are dying. Today, there was a photograph of a father holding the body of his dead teenage son. It’s horrific. The least we can do is provide them with a fighting chance with weapons.”
As Ukrainian cities were bombed from the sky and Russian troops surrounded Kyiv during the day, the sense of urgency escalated.
Ukraine’s government was still in power, but analysts warned that unless massive weapons and humanitarian aid were infused, the situation could become unsustainable.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine, recently said that what his country needs most is the establishment of a no-fly zone over its territory and weapons to compensate for the advantage of Russian forces.
“If you do not have the power to close the skies, then give me planes,” he said.
Even though the White House opposes a no-fly zone, it has almost doubled the amount of emergency aid it hopes to send to $10 billion as a response to the worsening situation.
There is a likelihood that the aid package will not be passed until next week at the earliest.
According to California Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the deadline is necessary since a yearlong budget deal needs to be passed by March 11 in order to include the aid funding.
“It’s the fastest thing,” she said. “It’s the vehicle that’s leaving the station.”
Unfortunately, there may not be a destination left.
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