"It is more vital than ever that we continue supporting the Ukrainians."
It's one thing for American leaders to pledge to stand with Ukraine. It's quite another for them to do so while standing in Ukraine. |
That's where Janet Yellen, the Treasury secretary, found herself on Monday, pledging $1.25 billion in economic and budget assistance to the war-shattered nation. While donated tanks, guns, missile launchers and all the rest get a lot of attention, equally vital is the massive infusion of cold, hard cash into Ukraine, which keeps its economy functioning, its society from crumbling and its military in the fight. |
As Yellen notes in a guest essay for Times Opinion, the United States has thus far provided close to $50 billion worth of security, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. "Our economic support helps Ukraine's government continue to be able to provide basic services to its people," she writes. "Just last year, our assistance allowed roughly 500,000 health care workers and 60,000 first responders to continue to save lives. We've also helped keep half a million teachers in the classroom." |
Yellen makes the case that it is the "moral duty" of the United States to come to the aid of free people under attack. She also echoes the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in calling the work not charity but a down payment for global security and democracy. |
That it may be. But after a year of war and the expenditure of billions in aid, popular support for funding teachers and health care workers overseas is softening in the United States. Here's the Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson bemoaning the billions of taxpayer dollars heading to Kyiv: "We could pay off half the medical debt in the entire country. We could pay for two years of community college tuition for every young person in the United States. We could fund all out-of-pocket expenses for cancer patients for five years. That's a lot of money. We could do a lot with it." |
With U.S. trains derailing, infrastructure crumbling, hospitals closing and school debt skyrocketing, Carlson has settled on a powerful line of attack. Never mind that many conservatives are loath to invest money in things like infrastructure when they have the chance; the rhetoric of profligate overseas spending resonates with many Americans on the left and the right. |
"Ukrainians are fighting for their lives on the front lines of the free world. Today, and every day, they deserve America's unyielding support," Yellen writes. |
But "unyielding support" and representative democracy are often at odds. If the Biden administration doesn't maintain popular domestic support for Ukraine, it risks being replaced by an administration that promises to stop writing checks. |
As is the case with many wars, and this war in particular, time is the ultimate arbiter. The Russians are playing for time. With a vastly larger military and a staggering capacity to accept human casualties, Moscow is hoping to drag out the conflict long enough for the West to lose its patience and its solidarity. Russia is hoping, in other words, that Carlson wins the war for American hearts and minds. |
Ukraine, on the other hand, is hoping that the latest influx of donated weapons — tanks and antiaircraft systems — get there soon enough to turn the tide of the conflict before its own military and economic strength are exhausted. |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
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