Cornyn Urges House to Renew Lend-Lease Authority for Ukraine

WASHINGTON – Yesterday on the floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) discussed legislation being considered by the House of Representatives to support Ukraine’s fight against Russia, including renewing the lend-lease authority granted to the President by Sen. Cornyn’s Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s remarks are below, and video can be found here.

“The House is working on ideas that include a number of policies that were not part of the Senate’s legislation. One of them is called the REPO Act – REPO for Ukrainians Act – which would repurpose seized Russian assets to help finance aid for Ukraine.” 

“I’m also encouraged to hear that the House is likely to include language to extend the lend-lease authority.”

“This authority was created as pertains to Ukraine by legislation I introduced with Senator Cardin, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act, which became the law nearly two years ago.”

“There’s broad bipartisan agreement that America should continue to support Ukraine, but there’s also a growing concern over the cost of that assistance… That’s a concern that I share, which is why I introduced the modern Lend-Lease Act.

“Lend-lease is not a blank check. It gives the administration the option to lease or rent defense articles to Ukraine. It would allow us to answer Ukraine’s call to provide more of what they need and ensure it’s done in a more fiscally responsible way.”

“I hope that our colleagues in the House will pass a security bill that includes both the lend-lease extension and the REPO Act and send that bill back here to the Senate without further delay.”