32m ago
18:21
Joe Biden will travel to Brussels next week to meet with the leaders of the Nato alliance and the European Commission about the war in Ukraine.
The announcement of the trip comes as pressure on
Biden grows to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine and to facilitate the
transfer of fighter jets from Poland to Ukraine. White House press secretary
Jen Psaki said Biden’s stance on those points have not changed.
The White House warned of dire consequences if Covid
relief funding remains stalled in Congress.
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell called for the
White House to pull their nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin for Federal Reserve
board following yesterday’s announcement from Democratic senator Joe Manchin
saying he will not vote to confirm her.
1h ago
17:58
White House press secretary Jen Psaki took a moment at
the beginning of the briefing to go off on how the US has struck Russia on an
economic front since the invasion began:
“We’ve made President Putin’s war of choice a
strategic failure,” she said. “The unprecedented cost we imposed with allies
and partners have reversed 30 years of economic progress, something that
President Putin himself has pushed for, and that has happened in less than a
month.
She continued: “It hard at the things that President
Putin cares for the most - degrading his military, access to cutting edge
technology, an ability to exert power and influence.”
Psaki pointed out that with the central bank reserves,
about half of Putin’s war chest has been immobilized. “He can’t use these rainy
day funds to support his war in Ukraine,” she said.
Psaki continued: “The ruble is less than penny. It’s
the worst performing emerging market currency. The Russian stock market has
been closed for nearly three weeks, the longest in its history as they try to
prevent a market crash. Inflation in Russia is rampant. Some forecasters are
predicting 20% inflation for Russia by the end of the year. Trillions in
dollars of businesses have been disrupted by sanctions, putting the Russian
financial sector in severe stress. The economic outlook for the country.
Forecasters around the world are projecting a collapse for the country.”
In the private sector, major companies either have
left or are leaving Russia as world leaders look to “ratchet up pressure on
Putin’s oligarchs”. Janet Yellen, the treasury secretary, and attorney general
Merrick Garland will tomorrow announce the creation of the Russian elite
proxies and oligarchs multilateral task force as “a way to go after corrupt
gains of some of the individuals closest to Putin,” Psaki said.
In terms of security assistance, the omnibus package
that the president is secheduled to sign this afternoon will provide $13.6bn
for Ukraine. That comes in addition to the $1.2bn in security assistance
already provided, including $550m in the last two weeks. Psaki noted that Biden
has also approved four emergency security assistance packages to provide
Ukraine with “the type of weapons they are using so effectively to defend their
country”.
1h ago
17:45
Biden remains against establishing no-fly zone,
facilitating Polish jets to Ukraine
Despite rising pressure from Congress and the public,
Joe Biden remained steady on his stance on establishing a no-fly zone over
Ukraine and facilitating getting the fighter jets in Poland to Ukraine.
“Nothing has changed about the analysis that the
Department of Defense has provided last week,” White House press secretary Jen
Psaki said. “Because of the challenges in delivery and the impact, providing
these would be greater risk than there would be benefit.”
The way the US has been aiding Ukrainians in their
fight against Russian aggression is by “providing the type of military
assistance and equipment that the Ukrainians have used to push back and fight
in the last 19 days. “That is what we will continue to do with the omnibus,”
Psaki said.
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