The White House warned that Washington is "out of money and nearly out of time" to provide more military aid to Ukraine unless Congress facilitates additional funding and support.
The warning came in the form of a letter to leaders of the legislative branch issued on Dec. 4. According to the correspondence penned by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young, the government had already gone through about $111 billion appropriated for Ukraine.
She pointed out that there is "no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment," adding: "We are out of money – and nearly out of time."
"I want to be clear: Without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from U.S. military stocks."
Young warned that failure to provide more funding would "kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield, not only putting at risk the gains Ukraine has made but increasing the likelihood of Russian military victories."
According to the OMB director, the Department of Defense (DoD) had used up 97 percent of the $62.3 billion it received as of mid-November. Meanwhile, the Department of State had run through all of the $4.7 billion in military assistance it received. This includes money for humanitarian, economic and civilian security assistance, she noted.
"We are out of money to support Ukraine in this fight. This isn't a next year problem. The time to help a democratic Ukraine fight against Russian aggression is right now – it is time for Congress to act," concluded the letter addressed to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
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Young's letter followed an October request from the White House, which asked Congress to act on a $100 billion supplemental funding request. The executive branch argued that the request "advances our national security and supports our allies and partners." (Related: Biden considering asking Congress for $100 BILLION in additional funds for Ukraine.)
The October request identified border security, Israel, Ukraine and U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific as items to be funded. About $61 billion was earmarked for Ukraine, with $30 billion of that allocation being used to restock DoD equipment sent to support the country after the February 2022 onset of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Johnson earlier expressed confidence that funding for both Ukraine and Israel would be approved. However, he stressed that the two should be handled separately. Funding for Ukraine is linked to changes in U.S. border policy, a red line for many Democrats in both chambers of Congress.
"Of course, we can't allow [Russian President] Vladimir Putin to march through Europe, and we understand the necessity of assisting there," said the House speaker. "If there is to be additional assistance to Ukraine, which most members of Congress believe is important, we have to also work on changing our own border policy."
The latest pressure to approve additional funding also followed the leak of an unreleased DOD report about the defense industry. According to the Guardian, the draft was turned over to POLITICO and contained grim warnings about America's defense industry.
According to the yet-to-be-released National Defense Industrial Strategy (NDIS), the U.S. defense industrial base "does not possess the capacity, capability, responsiveness or resilience required to satisfy the full range of military production needs at speed and scale." It also noted that while Washington has built the best weapons in the world, it could not produce them quickly enough.
"This mismatch presents a growing strategic risk as the U.S. confronts the imperatives of supporting active combat operations," the NDIS stated.
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Watch this Fox Business report about the White House asking Congress to approve more funds for Ukraine.
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