Posted on 11/14/2023 4:32:34 AM PST by Chad C. Mulligan
Speaker Mike Johnson said that he would like to use billions in seized Russian assets to pay for President Biden’s Ukraine aid request.
Mr. Johnson’s pitch comes as the top House Republican already diverted from Mr. Biden’s $106 billion request by splitting Israel aid from the larger package that included aid spending for the Jewish state, Ukraine, Taiwan and spending on the U.S.-Mexico border to bolster the president’s catch and release policies.
House Republicans have increasingly shifted their stance on providing more aid to Ukraine, arguing that no more taxpayer dollars should flow to the war-beleaguered country until the Biden administration offers clear-cut objectives for the conflict.
Mr. Johnson of Louisiana told the New York Post that he’s interested in using the more than $300 billion in Russian assets seized after fighting began in the region to fund future Ukraine aid.
“It would be pure poetry to fund the Ukrainian war effort with Russian assets,” Mr. Johnson said. “As you can imagine, that idea has been met with great enthusiasm on the Republican side. I suspect it will be with our colleagues on the other side as well. It’s an eminently responsible thing for us to do.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
He thinks out of the box. Bet he doesn’t sleep much at night. Hope he doesn’t get burned out.
Brilliant!
Totally wrong and lawless...when you have difference of opinion on policy it does no entitle you to steal other nations money...it will destroy the dollar and US reserve status and is short sighted...Hubris will not allow WA politicians to see that Ukraine policy is wrong and a disaster.
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We are going to be crushed by Debt and Ukraine is going to lose.
So he wants the slaughter of white christians to continue...
Every word a winner.
It does set a precedent to not only freeze but then permanently seize the funds belonging to other countries and their citizens because of policy disagreements between our government and theirs, especially with respect to their actions towards a third, non-treaty ally, country. We can and will do it — it seems inevitable at this point — but I do think this will only accelerate de-dollarization and the rise of BRICS. Foreigners historically trusted the US financial system as the safest place to keep their assets but if we unilaterally take their money, they will look for and eventually find alternatives, and that will be to our long-term economic detriment. That’s my opinion, anyway.
Why would anyone invest in America if we can just steal your money because we feel like it? Seems like a bad idea in the long run . At the very least steal Russia’s money and give it to Americans.
How about quit funding Ukraine and end this nonsense?
I am not impressed.
Thank you. If we are going to do that, use it for a good cause.
Excellent.
The vast majority of these assets are in Europe.
The EU has even greater asset totals in Russia.
If there were US/EU seizure of assets, my recall is the loss of EU assets would exceed those seized.
I oppose the civil asset forfeiture laws on principle, whether on a local, federal or international basis.
And use Iran’s 10 billion to fund Israel.
No. Not a dime to Ukraine. Eff them. We don’t have a single eff’n interest in Ukraine. They deserve zero money or attention. Focus attention here at home. It’s going to be very expensive deporting 20 million people. That has to be done first. Ukraine is a kleptocracy and we are the stupid chits getting ripped off. Thanks Zeepers, you moronic pieces of chit.
Then there are the joint production agreements for Russian oil and gas fields. Companies have abandoned activities, but the retain the contractual rights to X% of production.
The same is true of other industries. Companies bought % interest in many businesses, sought to sell as part of existing, but in most cases could not get a good price so the still retain those assets.
In Russia.
And for far more than $300B.
What will happen is these companies will sue the US for forcing loss of those assets. We will still wind up paying for them.
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