Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) cheered today’s Senate passage of a $95 billion national security supplemental package to strengthen American national security and our allies’ hands against divisive global forces of tyranny, corruption, and kleptocracy. The measure included security funding for Ukraine, Israel, and allies in the Indo-Pacific, as well as humanitarian relief to ease the suffering of innocent civilians in Gaza, Haiti, Armenia, and elsewhere. The measure also included the bipartisan Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act, which Whitehouse authored with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jim Risch (R-ID).
“I’m very happy to at last pass this long-overdue package to help Ukraine and Taiwan defend the frontlines of democracy and take steps toward peace and security in the Middle East,” said Whitehouse. “In Washington, in Kyiv, and in Munich, I repeatedly said to President Zelenskyy that there would be bipartisan action in Congress to ensure Ukrainian victory against Putin’s murderous regime. After months of dawdling caused by MAGA House Republicans, we finally made good on that promise, not only with over $60 billion in new funding to help our brave ally, but also the power of my REPO law to seize and repurpose billions more in frozen Russian funds.”
Whitehouse and Risch secured the inclusion by the House of their bipartisan REPO for Ukrainians Act in the national security supplemental. The bill would allow the seizure of assets confiscated from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and other sovereign assets of the Russian Federation that are frozen, and repurpose them for rebuilding Ukraine.
In late 2022, Whitehouse passed bipartisan legislation into law to allow the seizure of assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his corrupt oligarchs to help pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine. The measure authorized the transfer of proceeds from the sale of forfeited assets – from persons subject to sanctions for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and related crimes – in order to provide foreign assistance to Ukraine. Whitehouse had previously secured $67 million in the Ukraine supplemental appropriations bill for the Department of Justice’s KleptoCapture program—an interagency law enforcement task force to enforce sanctions, export restrictions, and economic countermeasures that the United States has imposed on Russia.
Whitehouse has long led the charge in the Senate to strengthen America’s hand against international corruption and kleptocracy. He is the Chair of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, a member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the “Helsinki Commission”), and a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
