Where is all that money sent Ukraine’s way by our government going? What has happened to the billions of dollars in weapons and tens upon tens of billions in financial aid that have been delivered to Ukraine? Senator JD Vance, the freshman senator from Ohio, wants to know.
And so he’s been circulating a letter in which he and the other signatories demand that Team Biden release a report with a “full crosscutting” regarding the exact amount provided to Ukraine since February 2022. He adds that such a report should be used by lawmakers to “make a determination on the wisdom” of additional spending, Fox News Digital reports.
According to that report, Sen. Vance said, in the letter, that the amount spent is unclear because the amount provided on the Ukraine spening so far, $114 billion, “does not include reprogramming, and transfers, for which the administration has asked for additional authorities in each of its four supplemental requests, dating back to March 2, 2022. Taken together, the four Ukraine supplemental spending bills passed since the escalation of the Ukraine/Russia conflict in February of 2022 amount to arguably the 4th largest discretionary appropriations bill.”
The Fox News Digital report also notes that Vance demanded a full list of what has been provided, saying “A listing of defense articles and services does not include the full picture of expenditures on areas such as budget support for the Ukrainian government and economic assistance.”
Continuing on that line of attack, he said, “for these reasons, we ask that this report be expanded upon by OMB and made public in order to allow Representatives and Senators to make a determination on the wisdom of additional expenditure in this area.”
One of the signatories of the letter, Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina, told Fox News Digital “Congress has shelled out more than $100 billion in support to Ukraine since last February, yet we have zero insight into exactly what this money is being spent on. The American people deserve to know exactly where their money is going.” He added that “A detailed, transparent accounting is an absolute necessity.”
Sen. Vance also spoke about the letter to Fox News Digital, saying “It’s very simple: the Biden administration is required by law to send Congress this report at the end of the month. They should expand the report to tell us the amount of money we’ve sent to Ukraine, including comprehensive information showing how those funds were used. 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.”
Sen. Vance made a similar point when speaking to Tucker Carlson on Tucker Carlson Tonight, saying “Whether you support Ukrainian funding or not, the fundamental question is, we deserve, and the American people deserve to know how their money is being spent, especially when we’re talking about $120 billion dollars of it.”
Continuing, Vance told Carlson “I would just like transparency here. Let’s just remind ourselves that over the past 20 years, the bipartisan foreign policy consensus in Washington, D.C. has been wrong about Afghanistan, they’ve been wrong about Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon and now with $120 billion of American taxpayer money on the line in a potential war of nuclear power, they are basically saying trust us. My response is, absolutely not. I don’t trust you, I don’t trust your motives, and I certainly don’t trust your judgment.“