Free Republic

Yesterday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a bill to authorize loan guarantees for Ukraine, similar to the bill that passed the House last week. The loan guarantee bill doesn’t directly increase spending; rather it adds Ukraine to the list of countries eligible for Economic Support Fund (ESF) grants. ESF grants have already been appropriated and are used as “walking around cash” for the State Department to send to allied countries in need of assistance (although the money often goes elsewhere). However, the bill does transfer extra funds into the Treasury in order to cover any potential default on the...

ATHENS—Greece's parliament passed a package of austerity measures on Thursday, a key condition of its €110 billion ($145 billion) financial rescue, as thousands of protesters demonstrated outside the chamber, some hurling firebombs and clashing with police. The vote came the day after three people were killed in violent protests against the measures, saddening a nation already struggling with economic hardship. The White House said President Barack Obama was briefed on the situation in Europe and on the markets Thursday afternoon by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and economic adviser Larry Summers. While Europe's financial struggles played a role in driving down...

Angry Republicans on Capitol Hill are charging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California with putting the interests of international lending organizations ahead of the needs of U.S. troops in the field. Democrats in the House have put supplemental legislation to support troops in Iraq and Afghanistan on hold as they try to round up the votes they need to put a $108 billion global bailout of the International Monetary Fund onto this piece of "must pass" legislation. The House passed an initial troop funding bill in May on a 368-0 bipartisan vote. Capitol Hill Republicans say the only reason for...