Part of the bill to aid Ukraine includes tanks built at the Lima-based Joint Systems Manufacturing Center.
File photo | The Lima News
LIMA — The Biden Administration signed a bill Wednesday morning that includes money earmarked for Lima-built tanks to help in Ukraine.
According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Defense, the bipartisan bill totals $95 billion of aid. The new law includes provision to the Ukraine and funding to combat fentanyl.
“When our allies are stronger, we are stronger,” President Joe Biden said at the press conference. “I’m grateful for all those in Congress — Democrats, Republicans and independents — who voted for this bill. It was a difficult path to my desk, but in the end, we did what America always does. We rose to the moment came together, and we got it done.”
Biden said the aid not only provides assistance but creates jobs for Americans across the United States, including Ohio. Locally, the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center is a part of the effort to help Ukraine. The JSMC will provide M1 Abrams tanks and Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers.
The bill also includes the bipartisan FEND Off Fentanyl Act.
“This important law will allow us to go directly after the drug cartels’ billions in illicit profits, targeting the entire fentanyl supply chain and sanctioning illicit opioid traffickers and money launderers in China and Mexico,” U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said in a press release. “Law enforcement in Ohio and around the country made it clear that we needed more tools to stop fentanyl at its source, and because of our work together, those tools are now law and can begin to be put to use going after the cartels. Today is an important step in our fight to stop the illicit fentanyl that is flooding Ohio communities.”
Reach Precious Grundy at 567-242-0351.
