Exclusive — Sen. J.D. Vance Sounds Alarm over $10 Billion Defense Stock Deficit Thanks to Biden’s War in Ukraine

“We write to express concern about recent reports that the Biden administration has ‘sent $10 billion worth of weapons to Ukraine that it still does not have the money to replace’ and is sending even more weapons to Ukraine despite this,” Sens. Vance, Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) wrote in their letter to Austin, which was obtained by Breitbart News.

Politico reported that the Pentagon sent $10 billion in weapons to Ukraine that it does not have the money for; Department of Defense (DOD) officials expect funding to replenish the equipment in a controversial supplemental package that includes aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.

According to Politico, “there are worries, too, about shortfalls in U.S. weapons if officials are not able to replenish DOD’s stocks.”13 This echoes similar concerns previously expressed by other officials. For instance, the commander of US Air Forces in Europe has warned that “we’re giving a lot of munitions away to the Ukrainians — which I think is exactly what we need to do — but now we’re getting dangerously low and sometimes, in some cases even too low, that we don’t have enough.” [Emphasis added]

One should question whether this risk is acceptable, especially if it is indeed undertaken “without guarantees of when [weapons will] be replenished” but also in light of reporting that the administration is considering tapping “Pentagon reserves” of “around $200 million in US Army funding to provide Ukraine immediate support” and DOD Comptroller McCord’s September 2023 comment that “Failure to replenish our military services on a timely basis could harm our military’s readiness […] Some have suggested that the Department could still execute the mission and support Ukraine’s needs if we were given permission to transfer funds from inside a short-term CR from our own needs to fund more security assistance. I want to be clear, the Department does not support that approach, which will create unacceptable risk to us.” [Emphasis added]

This is not the first time that Vance has argued that sending more aid to Ukraine would cripple America’s defense stock.

Vance said at the Munich Security Conference in February, “The West doesn’t make enough munitions to support an indefinite war. Ukraine doesn’t have enough manpower to support an indefinite war.”

As the Ukraine-Russia conflict has dragged into its third year, a survey from the Harris Poll and Quincy Institute found that roughly 70 percent of Americans want the Biden administration to push Ukraine toward a negotiated peace with Russia as soon as possible. Forty-six percent of Republicans favor an immediate end to sending aid to Ukraine, which includes military equipment.