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 president, secretary of defense, and secretary of state to provide an accounting of U.S. assistance to Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion of the Eastern European country.

The tally was along party lines, 26–20. When there will be a vote 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 countries in 2022, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

The committee’s chairman, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), said he supports the United States giving aid to Ukraine since a Russian victory “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.”

Nonetheless, said McCaul, the committee needs to do its duty to “pursue stringent oversight” of the assistance.

“Every dollar counts. And the Biden administration should expect this committee to be vigilant in demanding transparency and accountability for U.S. assistance to Ukraine,” he said. “In fact, this committee is already in the process of conducting vigorous oversight of the assistance provided to Ukraine by the Department of State.”

The committee has scheduled a hearing on March 29 with Diana Shaw, the State Department’s deputy inspector general; Nicole Angarella, acting deputy inspector general at the U.S. Agency for International Development; and Robert Storch, the Defense Department’s inspector general. The event will deal with oversight and transparency of U.S. assistance to Ukraine.

McCaul lamented that some people conflate demanding oversight of the assistance and objecting to it.

“This oversight is vital for continued U.S. support and for ensuring such support is effective in protecting American security interest abroad,” he said.

The committee’s ranking member, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), expressed opposition to the resolution, calling it a “political measure” and “divisive.” He decried the measure as jeopardizing the bipartisan support for assistance to Ukraine. He claimed that the resolution is not about oversight and that it is indicative of the future of such assistance.

“This resolution is not about transparency or strengthening accounting of our support for Ukraine, which we all agree is important. This resolution is about division,” he said. “Reporting it out favorably is not responsible oversight and in fact ignores the unprecedented amount of oversight this very committee is conducting on a regular basis.”

Meeks noted that the Biden administration is already conducting oversight of the assistance.

“Support for this resolution ignores the painstaking efforts of the American and Ukrainian governments and instead parrots the propaganda of the Kremlin,” he said.