(UnitedVoice.com) – President Joe Biden and his administration have been pushing Congress to pass more funding to help Ukraine fight off Russia. The current allotment is set to run out at the end of the year. In a new plea to lawmakers, the president warned that not supporting the Ukrainian military could lead to a much broader war that would require US involvement.
On December 6, Biden spoke to the nation from the Roosevelt Room in the White House. He said Congress has an obligation to “uphold the national security needs of the” US and its partners. The president accused Republican lawmakers of being willing to give Putin the best gift he could ask for by not helping Ukraine fight back.
Biden said Russia committed war crimes by attacking Ukraine’s power grid during winter, kidnapping thousands of children, and committing other atrocities. He argued that if Putin is allowed to take Ukraine, then he won’t stop. He will just “keep going,” and that presents a big problem for the US.
The president pointed out that if Putin attacks a NATO ally, the US will have no choice but to step in. He explained that “we’ve committed as a NATO member that we’d defend every inch of NATO territory,” and that would lead to “American troops fighting Russian troops.”
Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that all NATO members will view an attack on one member state as an armed attack against all member states. That means if Putin were to invade Poland or another NATO nation, all of the allied countries would respond to the attack, including putting boots on the ground. The article has been invoked before. When terrorists attacked the US on September 11, 2001, the Allies invoked Article 5 for the first time in history and went to war.
Congress has said they are open to passing more funding for Ukraine, but it must be tied to border security.
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