"Israel and Ukraine Support Supplementary Budget to Be Submitted Soon... Request to Fill the Speaker Vacancy"

Janet Yellen "Confident of Passage with Bipartisan Support Majority"

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that she will pass the support budget for Israel, which was attacked by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. There are concerns that the Biden administration's support may be delayed as the vacancy in the U.S. House Speaker position continues.

According to major foreign media on the 16th (local time), after concluding a meeting with Eurozone (20 countries using the euro) finance ministers held in Luxembourg, Secretary Yellen told reporters, "As soon as the House begins to function properly, U.S. President Joe Biden will submit a supplementary budget bill to support Ukraine and Israel."

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

Secretary Yellen emphasized, "Although there is opposition in Congress, there are many who strongly support this on a bipartisan basis," adding, "This is the president's top priority, and I absolutely believe we can handle it."

She also mentioned that there are additional issues to resolve regarding the signing of the global minimum tax introduction plan, and that this process will take until after next year. In this regard, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) explained that it circulated the global minimum tax-related bill at the Eurozone finance ministers' meeting that day.

Before attending the meeting, in an interview with the UK’s Sky News, Secretary Yellen was asked whether there is enough capacity to handle military support for both the ongoing wars in Israel and Ukraine. She responded, "Absolutely."

Secretary Yellen said, "The United States definitely stands with Israel and has the capacity to support its military needs, and also can and must support Ukraine in the war with Russia."

She emphasized, "Inflation has dropped significantly, and at the same time, we have a strong labor market with the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years." She continued, "Funding for the two allied countries is a priority," urging the House majority party, the Republicans, to quickly fill the vacancy left by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to pass various bills.

Secretary Yellen also stated, "The United States has clearly expressed that it stands with Israel and that Israel has the right to defend itself," but added, "It is important to try to protect innocent civilian lives as much as possible."

When asked if there is a pressure card to prevent Iran, suspected to be behind Hamas, from entering the conflict, she only replied, "I understand that diplomatic talks are ongoing," avoiding specific comments.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.