WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed legislation that would allow President Biden to use a World War II-era law to quickly supply weapons to Ukraine on loan, sending the measure to Mr. Biden’s desk hours after he urged Congress to approve tens of billions of dollars’ worth of additional emergency aid for Kyiv. The Senate passed the legislation unanimously this month. “Passage of that act enabled Great Britain and Winston Churchill to keep fighting and to survive the fascist Nazi bombardment until the United States could enter the war,” said Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland. “President Zelensky has said that Ukraine needs weapons to sustain themselves, and President Biden has answered that call.”The legislation invokes the Lend-Lease Act of 1941, originally proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to help arm British forces battling Germany. The legislation allowed the president to lease or lend military equipment to any foreign government “whose defense the president deems vital to the defense of the United States.”

Source: International New York Times April 28, 2022 23:22 UTC