Ever since incoming House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) promised last year there would be no “blank check” for Ukraine in a GOP-held Congress, Kyiv’s supporters in the House and Senate have been warily watching for efforts to undermine or even halt the flow of money and military gear they believe is needed to beat back Russia.
One tactic they expected were calls for auditing the scores of billions of dollars in economic support and weapons systems that has flowed from President Biden’s administration to Ukraine since Moscow expanded its invasion in late February 2022.
Here, then, is the test for the new Congress — to be more accurate, for its Republicans. Will they agree to condition new aid for Ukraine on what the administration says is an impractical war-zone audit? What will the new Republican majority in the House do?
In a statement, Vance told The Daily 202: "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.”
Those kinds of arguments, and the fact that an actual cut in aid wasn’t on the table, led Republicans who generally support more Ukraine assistance to side with opponents late last year when an audit resolution failed on a party-line vote in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. (The administration and congressional Democrats say weapons and money are accounted for.)
But some of Ukraine’s backers — including and perhaps especially among Senate Republicans — privately noted the loudest calls for audits were coming from colleagues in the House closely allied with former president Donald Trump and, like him, fiercely oppose sending more aid.
“The latest survey by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs released on Monday found 55 percent of Republicans saying they support sending military aid, compared with 68 percent in July and 80 percent in March. Half of Republicans favored providing economic assistance to Ukraine last month, compared with roughly three-quarters in March, according to the Chicago Council’s findings,” John wrote.
One tactic they expected were calls for auditing the scores of billions of dollars in economic support and weapons systems that has flowed from President Biden’s administration to Ukraine since Moscow expanded its invasion in late February 2022.
Vance makes his move
This week, a newly minted senator tested the auditing waters. The office of J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) started circulating a letter to Republican congressional staff that amounts to an early test on Ukraine policy for a new Congress and in particular its GOP-controlled House.- Vance’s letter — addressed not to Biden but to Office of Management and Budget director Shalanda Young — requests the administration “make public a full crosscutting report on U.S. government-wide expenditures for Ukraine” and neighbors affected by the war.
Here, then, is the test for the new Congress — to be more accurate, for its Republicans. Will they agree to condition new aid for Ukraine on what the administration says is an impractical war-zone audit? What will the new Republican majority in the House do?
In a statement, Vance told The Daily 202: "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.”
The audit tactic
Calls for transparency and accountability hardly seem unreasonable. Who doesn’t want to know whether high-tech U.S. weapons are being used properly? Why not figure out whether economic aid is actually reaching those it’s meant to help? Isn’t this virtuous use of congressional oversight?Those kinds of arguments, and the fact that an actual cut in aid wasn’t on the table, led Republicans who generally support more Ukraine assistance to side with opponents late last year when an audit resolution failed on a party-line vote in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. (The administration and congressional Democrats say weapons and money are accounted for.)
But some of Ukraine’s backers — including and perhaps especially among Senate Republicans — privately noted the loudest calls for audits were coming from colleagues in the House closely allied with former president Donald Trump and, like him, fiercely oppose sending more aid.
How feasible is an audit?
There are other issues.- A State Department cable from September, unearthed by Politico, laid out the challenges of keeping close track of money and materiel in a war zone where the United States is not a combatant.
- And then there’s the little matter of the Pentagon’s reliable inability to successfully complete an audit of its assets — the fifth failure took place just this past November.
“The latest survey by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs released on Monday found 55 percent of Republicans saying they support sending military aid, compared with 68 percent in July and 80 percent in March. Half of Republicans favored providing economic assistance to Ukraine last month, compared with roughly three-quarters in March, according to the Chicago Council’s findings,” John wrote.
From the campaign to Congress
Vance made no mystery of his views about assistance for Ukraine when he campaigned last year.- In February, he told former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast: “I gotta be honest with you. I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.”
- Later, Vance declared “spare me the performative affection for the Ukraine,” which he described as “a corrupt nation run by oligarchs.”
- In September, he told an ABC affiliate: “We’ve given enough money in Ukraine.”
