WASHINGTON – Heritage Action, a conservative grassroots organization with two million grassroots activists, released a statement from Acting Executive Director Ryan Walker following the Biden administration’s request to Congress to authorize more than $24 billion in additional Ukraine funding.
“Conservatives have been clear on the basic requirements for the consideration of any additional U.S. Ukraine funding. First, there must be publicly available accounting of how the U.S. economic and military funding has been used in Ukraine. Second, any additional funding must be considered on its own merits and paid for, rather than using off-budget emergency accounting gimmicks and combining it with disaster relief and border funding. Third, the Biden administration must articulate a plan that defines the end goal, expected U.S. commitment, and answers on issues like accommodating for impacts of drawdown authority and assurances of further commitments from our European partners.
Yet, the Biden administration has continuously failed to answer basic questions about the United States’ commitment, strategy, and path to victory in Ukraine. In Congress, Senate Democrats have repeatedly blocked efforts to implement meaningful accountability and oversight measures for U.S. funding to Ukraine. Now, despite polls showing a majority of Americans do not support additional U.S. Ukraine funding, the Biden administration expects Congress to ignore the will of the American people and blindly send billions more of taxpayer dollars to Ukraine.
Congressional support for Ukraine must be based, like any matter of foreign policy, on what serves the interests of all Americans. To uphold this responsibility, Congress should reject any requests for additional Ukraine funding unless conservatives’ minimum requirements are met. As drafted, this includes the Biden administration’s request for more than $24 billion in additional funding, which is tied to supporting Biden’s self-inflicted crisis on our southern border. The request exposes the disgraceful priorities of this administration to a foreign country ahead of our national security.
The American people are counting on their elected representatives to protect U.S. taxpayer dollars from fraud and abuse while placing the highest priority on public accountability and oversight. Anything less would go against the will of the people.”