WASHINGTON—Heritage Action, a conservative grassroots organization with two million grassroots activists, announced strong opposition to the Senate’s supplemental foreign aid package last week, issuing a Key Vote ‘No’ after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer moved for the Senate to consider the foreign aid-only bill.
In case you missed it, the Biden-Schumer supplemental package is reckless and irresponsible, putting the American people last. Heritage Action reminds lawmakers of the serious spending and foreign aid shortfalls of the $95 billion package, funded entirely by deficit spending.
Heritage Action Executive Vice President Ryan Walker called on lawmakers to reject the package, saying:
“It’s unbelievable that senators would ask the American people to spend billions of dollars on the salaries of Ukrainian bureaucrats and the coffers of foreign banks while our own border is wide open and families are struggling to afford groceries and rent because of Washington’s addiction to deficit spending. Conservatives in the Senate and the House should be united in opposition to this package for as long as it takes. It is high time the American people are heard.”
A breakdown of each portion of the bill from national security and budget experts at The Heritage Foundation can be found below.
Ukraine Funding
Max Primorac, former deputy administrator at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and Wilson Beaver, former U.S. Senate budget policy advisor and non-commissioned officer and team leader in the U.S. Army, concluded that the provisions in the supplemental fail to provide the accountability and strategy for aid that American taxpayers deserve.
The analysis from Heritage national security experts found:
About $46 billion of the $113.1 billion that has been authorized for Ukraine is for non-defense spending.
In October, a leaked report confirmed that Biden administration officials are far more worried about corruption in Ukraine than they are willing to admit publicly.
Despite claims by the Biden administration and its congressional and media allies, it is entirely possible that the weapons being described in this bill as replenishment of American stocks will instead be sent to Ukraine.
Last summer, as it neared the end of the amount it had been authorized to send to Ukraine, the Pentagon announced a $6.2 billion accounting error and promptly began to send more weapons and equipment to Ukraine.
Providing billions for “emergency requirements” gives U.S. bureaucrats an opportunity to spend without public oversight.
Taxpayers have sent more than $113 billion to Ukraine since the start of the conflict—all without responsible accountability measures or a clear understanding of future American commitments. The additional $62.3+ billion would bring the taxpayers’ total to more than $175 billion in less than two years—more than $1,300 per American household and more than $11,500 per Ukrainian household.
This bill violates the responsible principles consistently laid out by conservatives to consider additional aid to Ukraine: There is no public accounting of the expended military and economic aid, it is not being considered on its own, and the administration has not articulated the end goal, expected U.S. commitment, impacts of drawdown authority, and assurances of further commitments from our European partners.
Israel Aid
Unlike the money being earmarked for Ukraine and various humanitarian initiatives, the funding for Israel in this bill is at least focused on military aid that is in America’s security interests, albeit on a much smaller scale. However, U.S. taxpayer-funded humanitarian aid to Gaza, including some of the aid in this bill, is very likely to be diverted to support further Hamas attacks on Israel.
Max Primorac, former deputy administrator at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), found alarming elements of the well-intentioned aid for Israel:
The supplemental would loosen existing requirements about the transfer of weapons to Israel, allowing the Pentagon to send all categories of defense articles—including new defense articles, not just old or obsolete equipment—and shortening the time for the notice the President must provide Congress before transferring weapons to Israel.
It is likely that U.S. taxpayer-funded humanitarian aid to Gaza, including some of the aid in this bill, would again be diverted to support further Hamas attacks on Israel.
The problem of aid diversion to Hamas and other terrorist groups plagues all international and nongovernmental aid organizations operating in Gaza.
Confusingly, many of the sections that had been labeled as pertaining only to Ukraine or only to Israel in the original emergency supplemental request a few months ago are now labeled as intended “to respond to the situations in Israel and Ukraine” or even “and areas and countries impacted by the situations in Israel and Ukraine.” The intent seems to be to conflate the two issues in the minds of voters and lawmakers. Ukraine aid and Israel aid should be considered as separate issues and deserve separate votes.
This funding will not do anything to solve the issues the U.S. is currently facing in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan or in the Red Sea. The Biden administration has allowed Iran-backed militias to target American troops at will throughout the region by allowing more than a hundred attacks on U.S. bases before the attack that claimed the lives of three American soldiers in late January.
Indo-Pacific Funding
Despite some useful appropriations specifically focused on the Indo-Pacific, including funding some of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s unfunded requirements and security assistance for Taiwan, this bill does not prioritize the region.
Veteran national security Hill staffers Bryan Burack and Alex Velez-Green warn that the package focuses first and foremost on the other regions—Europe and the Middle East—which will only delay efforts to avert war in the Indo-Pacific, concluding that the bill:
Fails to prevent the administration from continuing to send weapons to Ukraine even if Taiwan requires them as well.
Continues the administration’s policy of prioritizing the arming of Ukraine over the arming of Taiwan.
Does not prioritize the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) to arm Taiwan—the most effective way to arm Taiwan quickly.
The funding allocated for the Indo-Pacific is a small fraction of the overall appropriations. Most of the defense investments are focused on Europe and the Middle East. The bill includes $7.9 billion in non-military Economic Support Fund appropriations for budgetary support to Ukraine’s government—nearly double the entire Indo-Pacific portion.
The defense production and inventory expansion enabled by those investments may one day be used to deter China. As written, however, it will focus first and foremost on the other regions, which will only delay efforts to avert war in the Indo-Pacific.
BACKGROUND:
The Heritage Foundation: Ukraine Aid Supplemental
The Heritage Foundation: Israel Aid / Red Sea Operations Supplemental
The Heritage Foundation: Indo-Pacific Supplemental
The Heritage Foundation: The Senate’s Supplemental Spending Package Is Reckless and Irresponsible
Heritage Action: Heritage Action Reiterates Opposition to the Senate’s Unaccountable Foreign Aid Package, Will Key Vote ‘No'
Heritage Action: KEY VOTE: “No” on the Senate Foreign Aid Supplemental Appropriations Package