12% of Ukraine funding was not paid by the end of the fiscal year

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   Don Wposted 5 years ago

   The Trump administration was so insistent on delaying the security funding for Ukraine that by the time it was released it was too late for the Defense Department to spend it before it expired.
   
   So the Pentagon called on Congress for help. Congress had to rescind the unspent portion of funding (12%), reappropriate it, then extend the funding beyond the 2019 fiscal year to 2020.
   
   The reappropriation was included in a routine Continuing Resolution in September which was used to fund the federal government for a limited amount of time and prevent a shutdown (see page 15, line 15):
   https://rules.house.gov/sites/democrats … 4378ih.pdf
   
   DoD official Laura Hill also mentions this in her testimony (page 83):
   https://assets.documentcloud.org/docume … 0-D012.pdf (p.83)
   
   Without the intervention, the Trump administration's actions would have denied Ukraine 12% of the security funding Congress had allocated to it the previous year.

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      wildernessposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Confusion.  What does the pentagon have to do with monies gifted to Ukraine?  Are we renting out our military as mercenaries now, to be paid for with money granted the new employer?

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         Randy Godwinposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Aren't we helping Saudi Arabia with hired soldiers already? Didn't I hear something about Trump hiring our military out to Prince Meatsaw? After all, they helped Jarrod get a 100 year lease on his failing 666 building. But you're probably fine with that.

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   2. 87

      Don Wposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      The funding is part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), a DoD initiative authorized by Congress as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, which is a DoD appropriations bill (see section 1250):
      https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-con … AF4B44B16D
      
      If you mean why is the government helping Ukraine with security at all, it's the same reason the DoD engages with partners and allies in other places, as per the current administration's DoD website:
      
      "As the old saying goes, there is strength in numbers. Why? When we pool resources and share responsibility, our burdens become lighter. It also gives us a better chance to advance our interests and maintain a balance of power that will keep enemies from thinking twice [sic] about aggression. The stability that comes from alliances and partnerships can also generate much-needed economic growth."
      https://www.defense.gov/explore/story/A … tnerships/
      
      Ukraine would have been denied 12% of the funding authorized by Congress because of the actions of the White House, contrary to the administration's own DoD policies and initiatives, if not for the intervention of the DoD and Congress.

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