Bowling Green Today

Recently, U.S. Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), JD Vance (R-OH), and 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 demand comes in light of new data that suggests previous OMB totals significantly underestimated the cost of aid to Ukraine.

The lawmakers wrote, "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 further added, "We now have confirmation from OMB that the total Ukraine spending figure is significantly higher than the administration has ever admitted." The latest data from OMB reveals an additional $684 million in appropriated Ukraine spending that had previously gone unreported. Furthermore, there is an extra $900 million in Department of Defense assistance that should be included in the total aid figure for Ukraine.

The lawmakers also highlighted another significant point: "OMB’s new spreadsheet confirms that the administration has more than $4 billion in authority remaining to transfer weapons from US stocks to Ukraine—authority that has been used as recently as this March and the administration’s use of which has forced them to admit they need another $10 billion to replenish US stocks depleted by Ukraine weapons transfers."

These figures bring the total amount of assistance given by the administration to Ukraine to over $125 billion, with potential future aid possibly exceeding $129 billion.

For more details on this issue, you can read the lawmakers' full letter here or find additional information from The American Conservative.