Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance introduced a bill Friday conditioning additional Ukraine aid from the United States, the Daily Caller has learned.
The “Enhanced End-use Monitoring Accountability Act,” obtained first exclusively by the Daily Caller, would condition President Joe Biden’s ability to send specific U.S. military equipment to Ukraine on the implementation of a series of recommendations issued by the Department of Defense (DOD) Inspector General.
The bill would prohibit the United States sending additional military equipment unless the DOD Inspector General certifies a series of expectations. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: GOP Civil War Deepens As Senators Claim McConnell Threw Party’s Voters ‘Under The Bus’ On Ukraine, Border)
“The United States has sent tens of billions worth of military aid to Ukraine with shockingly little accountability for where those resources have gone. For example, we know that over half the weapons subject to enhanced end-use monitoring we’ve sent have not been tracked according to DOD standards. This is totally unacceptable,” Vance told the Daily Caller.
“My legislation would require the Biden administration to maintain much higher standards of tracking the weapons we send overseas. If they can’t maintain those standards, they lose their authority to send weapons in the first place.”
Additionally, the legislation would require reports every 30 days on how weapons sent to Ukraine end up being used until the rate of weapons being properly tracked is above 99%.
U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) (R) speaks as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) (L) listens during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on March 2, 2023 in National Harbor, Maryland. The annual conservative conference kicks off today with former President Donald Trump addressing the event on Saturday. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The Congressional debate over additional Ukraine aid has been ongoing for months, with the biggest push in favor coming from Biden and the White House. The most recent foreign aid package, first introduced by Biden following Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel in October, would send $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, $14.1 billion in aid to Israel and $20 billion towards solving the border crisis.
Amid the stall in Congress, the Biden administration announced Tuesday that the Pentagon would be sending an additional $300 million in weapons aid to Ukraine, the first such package delivered by the Biden administration since December 2023. (RELATED: Biden Focuses On Issues Americans Care Least About In Biggest Speech Of Presidency)
“On behalf of President Biden, I’m announcing an emergency package of security assistance of $300 million worth of weapons and equipment to address some of Ukraine’s pressing needs,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said during a Tuesday press briefing. “This is possible because of unanticipated cost savings and contracts the [Department of Defense] negotiated to replace equipment we’ve already sent to Ukraine through previous drawdowns.”
Republicans opposed to sending additional military aid to Ukraine have long cited an alleged lack of oversight, as well as a lack of conditions on the aid, as holdups for approval. Vance’s legislation addresses both of those complaints. Some Biden administration critics have indicated they could be swayed to support further aid to Ukraine if the administration outlines a defined end-goal for the war.
President Biden led his State of the Union speech last week with the topic of Ukraine, imploring Congress to pass more aid so halt the advances of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Voters are more skeptical of the importance of the war, as it consistently ranks behind other topics such as immigration, the economy and crime in polls.