Pentagon can’t afford to replace $5 billion of arms it can send Ukraine
Sept. 28, 2023 Updated Thu., Sept. 28, 2023 at 12:07 p.m.
By Tony Capaccio and Roxana Tiron
Bloomberg News
A government shutdown would slow the pace of replacing weapons stockpiles sent to Ukraine, the Defense Department’s comptroller said, especially if new money for the war against Russia is left out of the ultimate spending package.
Without additional Ukraine funding, the Pentagon has congressional authority to send Ukraine $5 billion more in weapons and equipment from existing stocks but has only $1.6 billion left to issue contracts to industry and replace that equipment, Comptroller Mike McCord said in an interview.
“We could easily have used that $1.6 billion already,” McCord said in the interview Wednesday afternoon. “We are hoarding it or holding on to it because it is my only thing to make a difference. That’s all I have left since I don’t know if we are going to get this supplemental or when we are going to get this supplemental.”
The Biden administration in August requested $24 billion in supplemental Ukraine aid, about $13 billion of which is for defense. Additional funding faces opposition from a growing number of House Republicans. The Senate on Tuesday proposed a stopgap funding measure that includes $6 billion for Ukraine. So far, that’s a nonstarter in the House, significantly increasing the chances of a government shutdown this weekend when government funding lapses.
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2023/sep/28/pentagon-cant-afford-to-replace-5-billion-of-arms-/
