US President Joe Biden has been accused of pulling an “accounting scam” to send more money to Ukraine, according to Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. This accusation comes after US officials revealed that the next aid package for Ukraine would be funded from a $6.2 billion windfall discovered by the Pentagon in May.
The Pentagon announced earlier this year that it had overvalued previous arms shipments to Ukraine by $6.2 billion. As a result, this money could be used to finance future weapons transfers from US stockpiles. This discovery was made before the last tranche of military and economic aid money authorized by Congress for Ukraine, worth $48 billion, ran out this month. So, essentially, the quantity of weapons sent to Ukraine remains the same, but by declaring them overvalued, the Pentagon claims that more can now be sent.
The Biden administration has been facing criticism for allegedly diverting funds to Ukraine while the US military is still in need of funding. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene took to Twitter to voice her concerns, stating, “We have NOT even finished funding our own military…and the Biden admin is pulling an accounting scam to send more money to Ukraine!”
Additionally, Greene expressed her disapproval of the White House’s plan to combine the proposed Ukraine supplemental budget with emergency flooding money. She argued that funds should be separated and that Congress should focus on providing disaster relief to Americans instead of sending more money to Ukraine.
Although most Republican lawmakers have supported the Biden administration’s policy of arming Ukraine, a group of hardline conservatives, including Greene, have pushed back against funneling money and weapons to Kiev. In January, they even held up the confirmation of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy until their demands were met.
Moving forward, McCarthy will have to navigate the differing interests of the GOP’s pro-Ukraine majority and isolationist members, like Greene, when the next funding bill comes before Congress.
The accusations against President Biden highlight the ongoing debate surrounding US support for Ukraine and the allocation of funds. It remains to be seen how these issues will be resolved and how they will impact US-Ukraine relations going forward.
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