Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) led a letter demanding the Biden administration give a “full crosscutting report” to Congress that includes “U.S. government-wide expenditures for Ukraine and ‘countries impacted by the situation in Ukraine’ since February 24, 2022.”
Breitbart News has learned that a total of 37 lawmakers from the U.S. House and Senate signed on to the letter after Fox News initially reported over a week ago that it was being circulated. The letter, sent Thursday, was addressed to President Joe Biden’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young, asking for a “full crosscutting report” to Congress that would expand on the initial report that is legally required by the most recent omnibus spending bill.
Vance, who is in his first month of being sworn in as a senator, told Breitbart News that “it’s very simple” for OMB to expand on the legally required report it is already doing so that Congress can see how much money has really been spent on Ukraine.
JD Vance speaks with local press at a campaign stop at The Mandalay event center on November 4, 2022, in Moraine, Ohio. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Vance added, “The American people deserve to know the extent to which they are underwriting our government’s endeavors in eastern Europe. I do not intend to sit back and allow the Biden administration to keep this information under wraps. I expect to receive this report by the deadline in this letter.”
The group noted that the omnibus spending bill, which brought the total amount of money given to Ukraine to $114 billion, mandates that the report is due 30 days after the legislation went into effect but “does not include the full picture of expenditures on areas such as budget support for the Ukrainian government and economic assistance.”
The Republicans further laid out what they want included in their requested report:
The report should include a full accounting of total budget authority in this area by appropriations account after transfers and reprogrammings, as well as obligations, apportionments, and outlays for each account. The report should also include a list of countries the administration considers “impacted by the situation in Ukraine” and an accounting of budgetary resources the administration intends to provide to each of these countries in response to the situation in Ukraine including obligations, apportionments, and outlays.
Additionally, the letter acknowledged that multiple Department of Defense Office of Inspector General advisories have raised questions about the “DOD’s budget execution practices in regards to these funds” being sent to Ukraine and noted that there is still additional ongoing work being done by the State Department and USAID inspectors general.
Furthermore, before any more votes occur on other Ukraine-related appropriations, the Republican lawmakers want to see the legally required report in addition to the one they are requesting.
In addition to Vance and Bishop, the other Republican lawmakers who signed the letter are Sens. Rand Paul (KY), Mike Lee (UT), Bill Cassidy (LA), Mike Braun (IN), Josh Hawley (MO), and Cynthia Lummis (WY), and Reps. Warren Davidson (OH), Scott Perry (PA), Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA), Tom Tiffany (WI), Troy Nehls (TX), Matt Rosendale (MT), Barry Moore (AL), Jeff Duncan (SC), Thomas Massie (KY), Paul Gosar (AZ), Matt Gaetz (FL), Lauren Boebert (CO), Michael Cloud (TX), Mary Miller (IL), Chip Roy (TX), Ralph Norman (SC), Gregory Steube (FL), Bob Good (VA), Eric Burlison (MO), Bill Posey (FL), Andy Ogles (TN), Andrew Clyde (GA), Ben Cline (VA), Russ Fulcher (ID), Harriet Hageman (WY), Pat Fallon (TX), Anna Pauline Luna (FL), Nancy Mace (SC), and Byron Donalds (FL).
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the U.S. Congress as US Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) hold a Ukrainian national flag that Zelensky gave them at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on December 21, 2022. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Russ Vought, the former OMB director under President Donald Trump and current president of Center for Renewing America, told Breitbart News, “Congress has given out over $100 billion to Ukraine without telling the American people exactly what that money is being spent on. We fully support Senator Vance’s request to OMB Director Shalanda Young to be honest about where American taxpayer money is being spent in Ukraine. The American people deserve transparency and the Biden Admin must provide that.”
Garrett Bess, Vice President of Heritage Action, a conservative policy advocacy organization founded in 2010, told Breitbart News that the “American taxpayers deserve a comprehensive strategy, accountability, and oversight of the tens of billions of dollars of assistance that the United States has sent to Ukraine.”
“While recently passed legislation requires an accounting for all direct military aid to Ukraine, this is wholly inadequate, as it does not include a review of the direct economic support received by Ukraine since the start of the war,” Bess added. “Sen. Vance’s request that OMB provides an accounting of both military and economic aid would fill in the gaps that the current law has left and provide a much more robust picture of how U.S. tax dollars have been spent in Ukraine, which would better inform lawmakers’ decision making as the conflict continues to unfold.”
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.