That amount should reduce the need for Congress to pass an additional aid package before the fiscal year ends in September, several congressional and Biden administration officials told CNN.
The error, which was informed Thursday by lawmakers and congressional staff, frustrated Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees, who believe it underestimated the amount of U.S. support for Ukraine to prepare for the counterattack.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers wrote in a statement Thursday, “The disclosure of a $3 billion accounting error dollars that was discovered two months ago and only shared today (Thursday) with Congress, represents a big deal to say the least, that money could have been used for additional supplies and weapons to fund the next strike back, rather than rationing funding to continue for the rest of the fiscal year.
Before this new information was released, the Pentagon said there was just over $2.3 billion available for Ukraine’s aid agency. Now, because of this error, there is still about $5.3 billion available, which is far more than the largest single package for Ukraine.
The briefing to Congress comes after the White House told CNN that it currently has no plans to ask Congress for new funding for Ukraine until the end of the fiscal year at the end of next September, which angered administration officials against some lawmakers and congressional staffers. , who fear that the money will run out. By mid-summer.
But now that more funds are available, congressional sources said they were less concerned about the urgent need for a new funding package for Ukraine.
Defense officials explained that the miscalculation occurred because when the United States supplied weapons to Ukraine, it calculated the replacement value of the weapon rather than the value of the weapon. actual weapon, which drove up the cost of each package, as new weapons cost more than old weapons, and led to the mistaken assumption that more funding was used.
McCaul and Rogers said the administration should “make up for this valuable lost time by using these funds to provide Ukraine with the artillery and surface-to-surface missile ammunition Ukraine needs to fuel the counteroffensive and win the war”.
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