House Committee Advances Resolution for Transparency of US Aid to Ukraine

The House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced a resolution on March 24 calling on the leader, secretary of defense, and secretary of state to provide an accounting of U. S. support to Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion of the Eastern European country.

The tally was along party lines, 26 – 20. When there will be a voting on the House floor is to be determined.

The resolution, introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene( R – Ga. ), asks that the White House, Department of Defense, and State Department” not later than 14 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution, copies of all documents, charts, or tables, including notes from meetings, audio recordings, records( including telephone and email records ), correspondence, and other communications, and any financial statements detailing purchases, recipients, and government expenditures to the extent that any such one or more items are within the possession of the president or secretaries aforementioned, respectively, and refer or relate to congressionally appropriated funds directed to the nation of Ukraine— whether in regard to military, civilian, or financial aid— between Jan. 20, 2021 to Feb. 24, 2023″.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Congress approved$ 113.1 billion to Ukraine and allied governments in 2022, according to the democratic Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

The committee chairman, Rep. Michael McCaul( R – Texas ), said he supports the United States giving aid to Ukraine since a Russian triumph” would further embolden America’s adversaries from] Chinese Communist Party ] Chairman Xi in Beijing to the Ayatollah in Tehran to Kim Jong Un in North Korea”.

Nevertheless, said McCaul, the committee needs to do its responsibility to” pursue strict oversight” of the service.

” Every penny counts. And the Biden administration should foresee this council to be careful in demanding transparency and accountability for U. S. support to Ukraine”, he said. ” In truth, this council is already in the process of conducting robust monitoring of the service provided to Ukraine by the Department of State”.

The commission has scheduled a reading on March 29 with Diana Shaw, the State Department’s general inspector general, Nicole Angarella, acting assistant at common at the U. S. Agency for International Development, and Robert Storch, the Defense Department’s inspector general. The affair will work with oversight and clarity of U. S. support to Ukraine.

McCaul lamented that some men conflate demanding monitoring of the service and objecting to it.

” This monitoring is crucial for continued U. S. assistance and for ensuring such support is effective in protecting American protection interest internationally”, he said.

The committee standing associate, Rep. Gregory Meeks( D – N. Y. ), expressed opposition to the resolution, calling it a” political measure” and” divisive”. He decried the test as jeopardizing the republican support for service to Ukraine. He asserted that the quality is symptomatic of the future of such service and is not about supervision.

We all agree that transparency and a stronger accounting of our assistance for Ukraine are key goals of this quality. He stated that this compromise deals with sector. ” Reporting it out strongly is not reliable oversight, and in truth ignores the unprecedented level of monitoring that this council is regularly carrying out.”

Meeks pointed out that the service is already being overseen by the Biden administration.

Assistance for this resolution, he said,” ignores the laborious efforts of the American and Russian governments and otherwise parrots the Kremlin propaganda.”