Pentagon says an accounting error frees up $3 billion more for Ukraine
The Pentagon has significantly lowered its estimate of the value of weapons it has sent to Ukraine amid mounting pressure to explain how it plans to keep Ukrainian troops supplied without approaching Congress to cut its budget before the end of the fiscal year.
The revised accounting frees up $3 billion in weapons to be given to Ukraine from existing stockpiles, Pentagon and State Department officials told a skeptical audience of congressional aides on Thursday, some of whom spoke of the change on condition of anonymity. to discuss personal briefings from the administration.
Congressional officials said the Biden administration was not providing immediate details of its accounts, other than citing internal adjustments. But the government has been under bipartisan pressure in recent weeks to explain how it planned to stretch what little was left of its budgetary authority to quickly arm Ukraine – the so-called presidential withdrawal authority – without Kyiv’s efforts to to mount a decisive counter-offensive against Russia this summer. .
“I’m afraid it will leave a gap,” Maine Senator Susan Collins, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in an interview Wednesday, before staffers were told about accounting review. “I am concerned that the administration has not communicated how much money they still need and when the funds we have appropriated will run out.”
The presidential withdrawal authority allows the government to draw on existing weapons stockpiles, rather than waiting for the months or years it takes defense contractors to produce weapons under new contracts. The Biden administration has cited the program as one of its signature achievements in helping Ukraine fight against Russian forces.
But according to the administration’s own calculations, the treasuries are almost empty. Congress approved $14.5 billion in recording authority for the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Congressional aides said only $2.7 billion was left on Wednesday. That’s not enough, they said, to sustain the current pace and size of military aid packages without running out of money by the end of the summer.
According to lawmakers and congressional aides, the Biden administration has resisted the idea of approaching Congress to strengthen those authorities before the end of the fiscal year. Several speculated this week that this was partly due to concerns that it would be inconvenient to approach Congress for more Ukraine funds while a debt ceiling deal is being negotiated, in which Democrats seek discretionary non-defense spending. that the Republicans threaten to reduce.
But congressional officials in both parties worry that the administration’s reluctance to enter into a conversation with Congress about approving future funds for Ukraine will jeopardize lawmakers’ ability to pass such legislation — and that any resulting delays could jeopardize Ukraine’s capabilities, especially as it enters a critical phase. from the war.
The White House had no direct comment. Mr Biden and his top aides have said they would support Ukraine until it won the war.
Before the accounting changes, congressional officials estimated that unless the White House reduced the size of its military aid packages, its withdrawal authority to supply Ukraine’s armed forces would likely run out in July or August. Several Democratic and Republican staffers said State Department and Pentagon officials had sympathized with their concerns in private briefings, including during a final week when officials from both departments spoke to them about the dwindling amount available.
Administration officials said on Thursday that the discovery of an additional $3 billion in withdrawal funds resulted from an error in their previous valuation: Each item’s price should have been based on how much it would cost to replace it, they explained. , rather than selling it. value.
They plan to reflect the same change in their assessment of their remaining withdrawal authority to supply weapons to Taiwan, according to government and congressional officials.
But the Pentagon’s reasoning did little to appease congressional aides, who were frustrated by what they say is a lack of transparency from the White House about its accounting practices — or its plans to ensure that after the summer arms to Ukraine continue to flow.
Under withdrawal authority, the administration decides which weapons are taken from existing stocks and how their value is determined. Since the start of the conflict, the Pentagon has announced a new drawing package worth hundreds of millions of dollars approximately every two weeks.