On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) and 28 other lawmakers signed a letter opposing giving Ukraine another $24 billion in its war effort against Russia.
According to the letter, "Since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the United States has appropriated $114 billion in supplemental funding for Ukraine and "countries impacted by the situation in Ukraine."
However, this amount does not reflect the full picture, which includes transferred and reprogrammed funds. The administration has requested additional authority to transfer and reprogram funds in all five of its supplemental requests. The vast majority of Congress remains unaware of how much the United States has spent to date in total on this conflict, information which is necessary for Congress to prudently exercise its appropriations power. It is difficult to envision a benign explanation for this lack of clarity."
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, visiting with President Joe Biden.
Tuberville and lawmakers said in the letter to Office of Management and Budget director Shalanda Young, "The American people deserve to know what their money has gone to."
"How is the counteroffensive going? Are the Ukrainians any closer to victory than they were 6 months ago? What is our strategy, and what is the president's exit plan? What does the administration define as victory in Ukraine? What assistance has the United States provided Ukraine under Title 10? It would be an absurd abdication of congressional responsibility to grant this request without knowing the answers to these questions. For these reasons—and certainly until we receive answers to the questions above and others forthcoming—we oppose the additional expenditure for war in Ukraine included in your request," Tuberville and 28 other lawmakers wrote in the letter.
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