The Department of Defense warned Congress this week that it is running low on funds meant to replace weapons the United States sent to Ukraine in recent months and has been forced to slow down on resupplying American troops.
Pentagon Comptroller Michael McCord told House and Senate leaders in a letter that there is $1.6 billion left of the $25.9 billion Congress provided to replenish U.S. military stocks that have been flowing to Ukraine. The weapons include millions of rounds of artillery, rockets, and missiles critical to Ukraine’s counteroffensive aimed at taking back territory gained by Russia in the war.
In addition, the United States has about $5.4 billion left to provide weapons and equipment from its stockpiles. The United States would have already run out of that funding if the Pentagon hadn’t realized earlier this year that it had overvalued the equipment it had already sent, freeing up about $6.2 billion. Some of that has been sent in recent months.
Long-term funding for Ukraine has completely run out via the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provides money to contract for future weapons.
In his letter, Mr. McCord said that U.S. troops are seeing the effects of the funding gap. “We have already been forced to slow down the replenishment of our own forces to hedge against an uncertain funding future,” he wrote. “Failure to replenish our military services on a timely basis could harm our military’s readiness.”
His letter was sent after Congress passed a stopgap funding measure to avert a partial government shutdown. He noted that it doesn’t include funding for Ukraine military aid.
“I write to express the Department of Defense’s deep concern with the absence of [new] security assistance funding for Ukraine,” he said in the letter. Officials are “anxious to avoid a lapse in appropriations, but it is important that a [continuing resolution] protect our security interests and uphold our commitments and our values.”
Aid for Ukraine was removed from the continuing resolution to make sure that enough House Republican lawmakers would vote to pass the spending package. It gives the federal government enough funding until mid-November, giving both houses of Congress more than a month to pass a larger bill that will last until September 2024.
A number of Republican lawmakers have rejected the prospect of sending Kyiv more money, although President Joe Biden and top Democrats said that the halting of funding shouldn’t happen right now. The Republicans have suggested that providing billions to Ukraine while there are significant problems in the United States, including border security, is a disservice to their constituents.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who filed a motion against House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Monday to oust him from that position, said he wanted to know Monday if there was a “secret side deal on Ukraine.” He then claimed Mr. McCarthy “[cut] a side deal to bring Ukraine legislation” to the floor in a separate vote.
Other Warnings
In his letter, Mr. McCord wrote that blocking aid to Ukraine would place Kyiv in a dangerous situation and may encourage the Chinese Communist Party to carry out acts of aggression in other parts of the world.“Delays to additional funding would also be perceived by Ukraine as a sign of wavering U.S. support and likely as a betrayal of our previous commitments,” Mr. McCord wrote. “It is crucial that the U.S. continues to lead [the] global coalition, and we need the resources to underwrite our leadership role.”
This week, the White House warned Monday that the United States only has emergency funding to meet Ukraine’s war needs in the short term.
“It is enough ... for us to meet the—meet Ukraine’s urgent battlefield needs for a bit—for a bit longer,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday. She said the federal government has approximately $6 billion left in military aid to the Eastern European nation.
President Joe Biden also stated Sunday that “we have time, not much time, and there’s an overwhelming sense of urgency” for Ukraine funding. He has asked for about $24 billion more to cover the last three months of 2023.
