The White House has requested Congress include $11.7 billion in aid for Ukraine in any stopgap funding legislation to keep the government after the end of the fiscal year, specifically detailing more than $7.1 billion dedicated to Pentagon-related efforts.
Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget, detailed the administration’s requests for a continuing resolution in a Sept. 2 statement, which arrives as Congress faces less than a month until government funding expires on Oct. 1.
“As it did for the current fiscal year, we’re confident that Congress can reach a funding agreement that will deliver for the American people. But with one month until the end of the fiscal year, it’s clear that Congress will first need to pass a short-term continuing resolution to keep the Federal government running and provide the time needed to reach an agreement on full-year funding bills,” Young said.
The $11.7 billion in security and economic aid outlined in the White House’s request arrives as “roughly three-quarters” of the funding Congress previously provided to support Kyiv has been spent or committed so far, Young noted.
“As we said at the time, those resources were intended to last through September. We have rallied the world to support the people of Ukraine as they defend their democracy and we cannot allow that support to Ukraine to run dry. The people of Ukraine have inspired the world, and the Administration remains committed to supporting the Ukrainian people as they continue to stand resolute and display extraordinary courage in the face of Russia’s full-scale invasion,” Young said.
President Biden in May signed a $40 billion Ukraine emergency aid supplemental funding bill, which included $6 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative to procure military equipment to send to Kyiv to aid in its ongoing fight against Russia’s invasion, another $8.7 billion to help replenish stockpiles of U.S. weapons sent via drawdown authority and $3.9 billion to support European Command operations (Defense Daily, May 23).
Of the $7.1 billion outlined for Pentagon-specific efforts related to Ukraine aid in the White House’s CR request, $1.5 billion is for replenishing stockpiles of DoD equipment transferred to Ukraine improvements to ammunition plants to increase production capacity and additional efforts to accelerate production capacity to help refill weapons inventories.
The CR request also includes $3 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), where funds are used to procure equipment for Kyiv directly from industry rather than pulling from existing weapon stockpiles.
In late August, the U.S. approved a nearly $3 billion weapons package for Ukraine to be procured using USAI funds, with the new deal focused on meeting Kyiv’s medium- to long-term security requirements with capabilities set to be delivered in several months to years (Defense Daily, Aug. 24).
The White House’s request also seeks $450 million for the Army’s missiles procurement account to “increase production of guided multiple launch rocket systems required for the European theater of operations,” as well as $13 million for anti-vehicle munitions and $4 million for cyber security and weapon systems upgrades required in Europe.
The CR request also calls for $298 million in Air Force procurement and $10 million for defense-wide procurement to also cover cyber security and weapon systems upgrades in Europe.
For DoD operations and maintenance accounts, the CR request seeks $707 million to the Army, $433 million to the Navy, $35 million to the Marine Corps, $267 million to the Air Force and $2 million to the Space Force “for personnel support costs such as temporary duty costs, operational support such as intelligence analysis, flying hours, maintenance, and weapon system sustainment and other unit support costs.”
The White House also calls for research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) account funds in support of classified programs, to include $100 million for the Air Force, $2 million for the Navy and $31 million for defense-wide programs.
Under the request, the Army would also receive $3 million for its RDT&E account for “munitions, anti-vehicle, and close combat technology development needed for European theater of operations.”
For personnel accounts, the CR request seeks $110 million to the Army, $462,000 to the Navy, $1 million to the Marine Corps, $10 million to the Air Force and $1 million to the Space Force “to support personnel who are currently deployed or preparing for deployments to and within the European theater of operations, including special pays such as family separation allowance.”
The request also calls for an additional $2 billion “to help address the impacts [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war has had on domestic energy supply and reduce energy costs in the future.”
The House Appropriations Committee previously voted 32 to 26 in June to approve its $761.7 billion FY ‘23 defense spending bill (Defense Daily, June 22).
In late July, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday released its plan to spend $850 million on defense-related programs in FY ‘23, to include $792.1 billion for the Pentagon (Defense Daily, July 28).