President Biden supports more aid to Ukraine, Israel
President Biden will ask Congress for billions more in funding for the Ukraine war and now the war in Israel.
The U.S. has played a critical role in supporting Ukraine as it fights off Russia's invasion. But as Congress works to elect a new leader, additional funding for Ukraine has stalled. In the "60 Minutes" interview, President Biden sought to assure the American public that the U.S. can handle aiding both allies in these crises.
"We're the United States of America, for God's sake," he said, stressing that America is the most powerful nation in the history of the world. "We can take care of both of these and still maintain our overall international defense."
Mr. Biden said supporting Ukraine's war financially will help stop Russian President Vladimir Putin's expansionist goals, and prevent direct U.S. military involvement.
"Imagine what happens. Let's say we stop, Russia takes over Ukraine and moves into Poland or moves into Belarus. We're at war. We, the United States, at war," he said.
Russia occupies nearly 20% of Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands have been killed. In an interview last month, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told us he would lose the war without U.S. aid.
"Have you ever known a major war in Europe we didn't get sucked into? We don't want that to happen," Mr. Biden said. "We want to make sure those democracies are sustained. And Ukraine is critical in making sure that happens."
As "60 Minutes" spoke with the president, his secretary of state was in Israel and his defense secretary was at a NATO meeting on Ukraine. Even with the two wars ongoing and dysfunction in Congress, Mr. Biden is sure he wants to run for office again.
"Imagine if we were able to succeed in getting the Middle East put in place where we have normalization of relations. I think we can do that," he said. "Imagine what happens if we, in fact, unite all of Europe and Putin is finally put down where he cannot cause the kind of trouble he's been causing. We have enormous opportunities, enormous opportunities to make it a better world."