Pentagon Evaluating Proposal to Send Weapons to Ukraine

The Biden administration is considering a short-term measure to send U.S. military arms and ammunition to Ukraine even though it’s possible that those the military’s coffers won’t be replenished by Congress, according to media reports.

“It’s something that I know is on the table,” Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., told The New York Times.

And it’s a move he would support in “incremental uses to buy time.”

There is around $4 billion in presidential drawdown authority funds available for the Department of Defense to use on Ukraine, but the Pentagon was reluctant to spend that money without assurances that the stockpile would be refilled.

Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Garron Garn told CNN in a statement that the DOD “continues to urge Congress to pass a supplemental to support Ukraine in its time of need and to replenish our stocks.”

Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, told the Times her agency is “focused on urging the House of Representatives to pass the national security supplemental package as soon as possible.”

“Ukraine needs the full resources in that package, and Speaker [Mike] Johnson should put it to a vote, where it would overwhelmingly pass, since there is no other way to fully meet Ukraine’s needs.”

President Joe Biden on Tuesday met with congressional leaders at the White House in hopes of making progress against a legislative logjam on Capitol Hill that has major ramifications not just for the U.S. but for the world as Ukraine struggles to repel Russia’s invasion with weapons and ammunition starting to run short.

“The need is urgent,” Biden said of the Ukraine aid. “The consequences of inaction every day in Ukraine are dire.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.