Where’s your money going? An anniversary breakdown of the $113B in taxpayer funds for Ukraine

When Russian President Vladimir Putin rolled across his border and into Ukraine one year ago, most Americans, along with most of the world, were horrified. Putin, most everyone agrees, is a very bad man, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was an almost perfect representation of the brave underdog we Americans love so much to champion.

So, as Americans, we wanted to do what, despite what the current administration would have you believe, we as Americans always want to do: We wanted to help.

It wasn’t a political thing. Republicans and Democrats agreed: This was an American thing.

Zelenskyy was like John McLane with a cute accent, trying to fight his way out of Nakatomi Plaza, and we were there for him.

But one year later, as those same Americans are struggling to pay for gas that has skyrocketed and still put food on the table, as some are left with a toxic cloud hovering over our farms and wondering if we can safely drink our water, and as Zelenskyy continuously shows up in a clean-but-fashionably-rumpled sweatshirt and demands that we give still more, many are starting to ask some sensible questions, chief among them: Where is our money going?

Even as President Joe Biden vows we will, “for as long as it takes,” continue footing the bill for a border dispute that, in reality, has nothing to do with us, support for Ukraine among the American people is rapidly dwindling.

Reports the Daily Mail:

A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted between February 6 and 13 found 58 percent of Americans approved of military support, compared to 73 percent in April 2022.

On January 31, results of a PEW Research poll showed the share of Americans saying the U.S. was giving to much support to Ukraine had grown to 26 percent from 7 percent in March 2022.

 

With the House now in Republican hands, many are calling for a proper audit of Ukraine.

Our financial involvement in the embattled nation now matches the equivalent amount President Harry Truman committed to Europe to help rebuild a continent destroyed by World War II.

The Daily Mail writes:

Seventy-five years on, the Biden administration and Congress have now set aside a similarly staggering $113 billion in American taxpayer funds for Ukraine in a conflict that has no end in sight.

The bill on the first anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s invasion confirms the U.S. is by far the world’s biggest contributor to Volodymyr Zelensky’s war effort – followed by the UK and European Union – and the White House has signaled support will continue.

 

The outlet attempted to break down for Americans how our hard-earned money is being spent:

The huge support package – three times more than what the U.S. spent in Afghanistan in a year – is dominated by the $46.6 billion in military equipment and support.

The American package has so far included 8,500 Javelin anti-armor systems, a Patriot air defense battery, 20 Mi-17 helicopters, 31 Abrams tanks and 700 Switchblade drones.

109 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, 75,000 sets of body armor and helmets, 38 High Mobility Artillery Rocket systems, and 4,000 Zuni aircraft rockets have also been sent over.

 

The rest of our money is going to such vaguely-defined things as “humanitarian aid” and “refugee programs.”

But because we have all seen how well the trillions of dollars we’ve paid for COVID-19 programs and to fight the war on weather have gone, assurances that we are helping the Ukrainian people with food and medical supplies or to flee their ravaged country aren’t all that comforting.

Especially when we now know Ukraine will burn through all that money in just a few years.

“According to the Congressional Budget Office, more than half the funds will have been spent by the end of 2024 and three-quarters will have been used by the end of 2026,” states the Daily Mail.

While none of us got to vote on this insane amount of spending — Congress has not declared war on Russia, though it sure feels as though they have — President Biden has several ways to keep the Ukrainian money train rolling, even as ours derails.

“President Biden has three methods at his disposal to provide direct aid to Ukraine: The Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), and Foreign Military Financing (FMF),” the outlet reveals. “For example, Biden has used the PDA 29 times since Russia invaded, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.”

A “PDA” may sound innocuous, but it means we are pulling supplies from our own U.S. military’s arsenal and shipping them to another nation.

“Biden utilized the authority to send $9.2 billion – or roughly 84 percent – worth of supplies from the U.S. stockpiles,” according to the Daily Mail.

In May, Congress finally put an $11 billion cap on equipment Biden can give away via the PDA.

Under the USAI — which Biden has used eight times since April 2022 — the federal government is setting up and funding contracts with the private sector to the tune of $7.2 billion.

By any measure, it should be noted, public-private partnerships are the very definition of economic fascism.

And while our arsenals are being depleted, Biden is using the FMF to replenish NATO’s stockpiles. On three occasions, Biden used the FMF to gift to our NATO allies more than $3.1 billion in “support.”

In the House, Republicans are demanding answers before pledging another penny.

“It is critical that government agencies administering these funds ensure they are used for their intended purposes to prevent and reduce the risk of waste, fraud, and abuse,” House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer said. “The Committee seeks documents and information to understand how the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of State (State), and the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) are conducting oversight of these fund.”

“American taxpayers are rightly frustrated with over a hundred billion U.S. dollars that have been spent in Ukraine, especially given the lack of a clear vision or strategic objective in the conflict,” Heritage Action for America executive director Jessica Anderson told DailyMail.com.

“Before Congress even discusses the possibility of additional aid,” she said, “the public must get answers to a number of important questions.”

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Melissa Fine

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