British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, left, speaks during a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department on Tuesday, April 9, 2024 in Washington. (AP/Kevin Wolf)
![](https://gvwire.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/16173534/highlights-banner-blue-300x94-1.png)
- Antony Blinken and David Cameron urged Congress to approve new military aid for Ukraine.
- Secretary of State asked lawmakers to unblock the assistance President Biden has sought for months.
- $60 billion package of military aid is bogged down in the House by populist conservatives.
Share
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron urged Congress on Tuesday to approve new military aid for Ukraine, saying the stalled funding is critical for U.S., European and world security.
Meeting at the State Department
Speaking after a meeting at the State Department, Blinken repeated long-standing appeals for lawmakers to unblock the assistance that President Joe Biden has sought for months, while Cameron said he would make the same case in meetings on Capitol Hill “as a great friend” of the United States.
“I come here with no intention to lecture anybody or tell anybody what to do or get in the way of the process of politics and other things in the United States,” he said. “I just come here as a great friend and believer in this country and a believer that it’s profoundly in your interest, in your security, and your future and the future of your partners to release this money and let it through.”
Related Story: Blinken Pushes for Progress on Gaza Cease-Fire-for-Hostages Deal in Meetings ...
Cameron is just the latest of numerous foreign government officials who have urged American lawmakers to act swiftly to approve the assistance amid increasing concern over the U.S. role. Last week in Brussels, nearly all NATO member foreign ministers said the U.S. contribution is essential, echoing comments by Biden, Blinken and other administration officials.
“The supplemental budget request that President Biden has made of Congress is urgent and it’s imperative since the House is now back in session,” Blinken said. “We look to see that brought before the house and to get a vote as quickly as possible.”
Cameron’s Meeting with Trump
Cameron also met on Monday in Florida with former President Donald Trump, who has been skeptical of Ukraine aid, and said the assistance is “vital for American and European security.” Cameron defended his meeting with Trump as a standard encounter with an opposition figure and said it covered a number of pressing global issues but did not elaborate.
“This was entirely in line with precedent with government ministers meeting with opposition politicians in the run-up to elections,” he said, noting that they discussed “a range of important geopolitical subjects” and that both British and American politicians have frequently met with opposition figures in their respective countries.
“These things are entirely proper,” Cameron said.
Cameron said victory for Ukraine is “vital for American and European security,” but the former president and presumptive Republican candidate is a critic of continued U.S. support, and lawmakers aligned with him are holding up an aid package for Kyiv in Congress.
Cameron and Trump have had several notable differences of opinion in the past. Cameron called Trump’s proposal during his first presidential campaign to ban Muslims from the U.S. “divisive, stupid and wrong.”
In a statement, Trump’s campaign said the meeting was held “to discuss several issues impacting both countries,” including upcoming elections in both Britain and the United States, the implications of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, the need for NATO allies to meet their commitments on defense spending and “ending the killing in Ukraine.”
The statement did not elaborate on those topics but added that Trump, Cameron and British ambassador to the U.S. Karen Pierce, had “also discussed their mutual admiration for the late Queen Elizabeth II.”
Cameron’s Political History
Cameron was British prime minister during the U.K.’s 2016 referendum on whether to leave the European Union — a move he opposed but Trump enthusiastically supported. Cameron resigned after voters narrowly rejected his call to remain in the bloc.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak unexpectedly brought Cameron back into government last year as Britain’s top diplomat.
Cameron said later Tuesday he would urge U.S. lawmakers to approve a new aid package for Ukraine, warning Congress that it is putting the security of the West at risk by continuing to hold up the funding. He’s due to hold talks with lawmakers including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, and is hoping to meet House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose role is key.
In a video posted last week on social network X, Cameron said: “Speaker Johnson can make it happen in Congress.”
A $60 billion package of military aid is bogged down in the House of Representatives as populist conservatives seek to block further funding for the two-year-old conflict and some mainstream Republicans demand concessions on border security before supporting the bill.
After Cameron urged U.S. lawmakers in February not to show “the weakness displayed against Hitler” in the 1930s, Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene said he should “worry about his own country.”
Ahead of his trip, Cameron said that “success for Ukraine and failure for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin are vital for American and European security.”
“This will show that borders matter, that aggression doesn’t pay and that countries like Ukraine are free to choose their own future,” he said. “The alternative would only encourage Putin in further attempts to re-draw European borders by force, and would be heard clearly in Beijing, Tehran and North Korea.”
Cameron is also due to discuss the Israel-Hamas war, including efforts to reach a “sustainable cease-fire” and get more aid into Gaza, in talks with officials including Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. The U.K. is sending a Royal Navy ship to the eastern Mediterranean to bolster efforts to open a maritime aid corridor between Cyprus and a temporary U.S.-built pier in Gaza.
RELATED TOPICS:
49ers Rookie WR Ricky Pearsall Shot in Attempted Union Square Robbery
5 hours ago
Will Gov. Newsom Call a Special Session to Deal With Gas Prices?
6 hours ago
Bettors Banking on Eagles Resurgence, Cowboys Regression as NFL Season Begins
17 hours ago
Abandoned Poodle Mix Adam Survives the Wild and Seeks a Forever Home
18 hours ago
Top Brazilian Judge Orders Suspension of X Platform in Brazil Amid Feud With Musk
1 day ago
![Police officers secure the area and investigate the scene of a shooting at Union Square in San Francisco, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)](https://gvwire.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/31184052/piersall-shooting-1024x683.jpg)
49ers Rookie WR Ricky Pearsall Shot in Attempted Union Square Robbery
![Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at an event in anticipation of signing a bill on his proposed oil profit penalty plan in Sacramento on March 28, 2023. (CalMatters/ Miguel Gutierrez Jr.)](https://gvwire.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/31175839/newsom-big-oil.webp)
Will Gov. Newsom Call a Special Session to Deal With Gas Prices?
![](https://gvwire.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/28091346/082824-Lede-1024x576.jpg)