Don’t Be Fooled: This Bill Is Mostly Ukraine Aid

The U.S. military needs to husband its resources so that it has the ability to protect America’s core national security interests. Because of the unparalleled extent of the challenge posed by China, U.S. defense spending must be focused on the Indo-Pacific.

The National Defense Strategy identifies China as the primary threat to U.S. national security interests. This makes sense, given that China boasts an economy second only to our own, has engaged in a massive military buildup, and is laser-focused on displacing the United States as the preeminent power in the Indo-Pacific.

And yet, President Joe Biden’s latest supplemental budget request to Congress contains $60.6 billion in aid to Ukraine and only $5 billion in American shipbuilding and security assistance to allies in the Indo-Pacific. . .

But this bill isn’t primarily intended to strengthen the U.S. military. Quite the contrary, over the short term, it would deplete U.S. military stores. Fundamentally, this bill is intended to give more military and financial aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

The bill contains a $7.8 billion increase in Presidential Drawdown Authority, which enables the president to pull equipment and munitions out of existing U.S. military warehouses and units and send them abroad. As of December, the Biden administration has used this authority 44 times to take defense materiel out of U.S. stockpiles and transfer them to the government of Ukraine. Most of the military equipment already provided to Ukraine has been through Presidential Drawdown Authority. (Read more from “Don’t Be Fooled: This Bill Is Mostly Ukraine Aid” HERE)