Republicans pursuing audit of Ukraine aid from US Congress
Nov 18, 2022
Washington [US], November 18 : A group of US House Republicans is seeking an audit of aid provided to Ukraine as the party gains a majority in the lower chamber following midterm elections.
"I would like to announce that I've introduced a privileged resolution, and what this will do is it will hold our government accountable for all of the funding for Ukraine," US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said in a press conference on Thursday. "We're asking for everything to do with military, civilian and financial aid . We want it all."
This comes as the Biden administration has provided more than USD 20 billion in military assistance to Kyiv, as well as about USD 10 billion in humanitarian assistance and about USD 13 billion in economic assistance, The Hill reported.
Adding to this, Biden has called for Congress to earmark USD 37.7 billion in additional funds for Ukraine.
Greene said US taxpayers deserve to know where their money is going, adding if Congress chooses to vote down the resolution in its current session, then the lawmakers will introduce the resolution again in the new Congress taking office next year.
"For next year, absolutely I'll introduce this resolution again, but I'll also be calling for a full audit. That's what we want, we want to audit Ukraine," she said.
Republicans also slammed outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for attaching Ukraine aid to disaster relief funding and other unrelated measures. Massie said he hopes Republican leadership does not do the same once their majority takes effect in January.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Defence (DOD) said it welcomes an audit of its assistance to Ukraine to ensure accountability to taxpayers.
"The DOD welcomes an audit. We always want to be accountable to the taxpayers on how their money is being sent or spent when it comes to what we have in our inventory, and what we are sending to Ukraine," Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said on Thursday.
"We welcome audits when it comes to Ukraine or anything else," she added.
