White House national security spokesperson John Kirby listed off a variety of talking points Thursday after being asked to name President Joe Biden’s biggest foreign policy achievement of 2023.
“Since we don’t get to ask him ourselves, we would’ve last night maybe if he would’ve stuck around a little while, what would the president say is his foreign policy achievement of the year?” CBS News Senior White House Correspondent Ed O’Keefe asked.
“There’s a lot that we have achieved in foreign policy, and [White House press secretary] Karine’s [Jean-Pierre] already made sure, that you know, that we’re running late and I don’t want to belabor this. This answer could go on for like twenty minutes,” Kirby responded.
“I mean from the Indo-Pacific and the Quad and AUKUS deal to get Australian nuclear powered submarine capability to what we have done with supporting Ukraine. Pushing back, they’ve clawed back more than 50% of the territory that Russia took in the early months of the war. Obviously they did that through courage and bravery on the field but they certainly did that with the United States’ support,” Kirby continued.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the Biden administration has pledged to back the country “for as long as it takes.” In 2022, Congress approved a funding package to Ukraine of more than $112 billion, according to NPR. The White House now warns the funding is running out and more needs to be sent. Biden asked Congress in August for an additional $24 billion to help fund Ukraine through the end of 2023.
President Joe Biden invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House in December to help make a push to Congress for more aid to Ukraine.
Following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, Biden announced a supplemental package that would divvy up money to Ukraine, Israel and the U.S. border. For a grand total of $106 billion, the package would send $61 billion in emergency funding t0 Ukraine, $14.3 billion in aid t0 Israel and 13.6 billion to the U.S. border. $1.4 billion would be sent to state and local governments struggling to handle an influx of migrants.
Congress, however, has delayed the passing of the package over disagreements on how to address the ongoing border crisis. The White House urged Congressional leaders in a Dec. 4 letter to get the funding through. Congress was unable to pass the package ahead of the December holidays. (RELATED: ‘Use The Crisis’: Republicans Balk At Biden’s Attempt To Exploit Israel For Ukraine Funding)
“Look at what Israel has been able to do to put pressure on Hamas in the wake of the worst terrorist attack that they’ve ever succumbed to. I mean I could go on and on,” Kirby said.
“I think if I had to bucket it into one thing, one of the most important things he’s done on the foreign policy front is shore up and revitalize our vast network of alliances and partnerships. No other nation in the world has that kind of a network at their disposal the way the United States does. And our leadership on the world stage is stronger because he took the time to invest in those relationships. Many of those relationships that had been let lapse by the previous administration.”