Bowling Green Today

U.S. Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and JD Vance (R-OH), along with fifteen colleagues from the House and Senate, have demanded answers from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young regarding American aid to Ukraine. This comes after new data revealed that previous OMB totals significantly underestimated the cost of Ukraine aid.

The lawmakers stated in a letter, "In January 2023, based on the information then available to us, we had estimated US spending in connection with the Ukraine conflict at a minimum of $114 billion. This figure was higher than the $111 billion in the OMB table sent on September 11, 2023—not to mention the much lower amount cited by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan later that month."

They continued, "We now have confirmation from OMB that the total Ukraine spending figure is significantly higher than the administration has ever admitted. OMB’s latest transmission reveals that there is at least another $684 million in appropriated Ukraine spending that the administration had previously failed to report."

In addition to this unreported sum, an extra $900 million in Department of Defense assistance should be added to the total Ukraine aid figure. The lawmakers also pointed out that according to OMB's new spreadsheet, more than $4 billion remains in authority for transferring weapons from US stocks to Ukraine—an authority recently utilized as recently as March.

This forced admission by the administration implies they need an additional $10 billion to replenish US stocks depleted by Ukraine weapons transfers. Cumulatively, these figures bring the total amount of assistance given to Ukraine by the administration to over $125 billion and could potentially rise above $129 billion.

For further details on this matter, refer to the full letter written by lawmakers here and read more from The American Conservative.