Nearly $6B in Ukraine Funding to Expire09/13 06:14

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nearly $6 billion in U.S. funding for aid to Ukraine will 
expire at the end of the month unless Congress acts to extend the Pentagon's 
authority to send weapons from its stockpile to Kyiv, according to U.S. 
officials.

   U.S. officials said the Biden administration has asked Congress to include 
the funding authority in any continuing resolution lawmakers may manage to pass 
before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30 in order to fund the federal 
government and prevent a shutdown. Officials said they hope to have the 
authority extended for another year.

   They also said the Defense Department is looking into other options if that 
effort fails.

   The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the funding 
talks, did not provide details on the options. But they said about $5.8 billion 
in presidential drawdown authority (PDA) will expire. Another $100 million in 
PDA does not expire at the end of the month, the officials said. The PDA allows 
the Pentagon to take weapons off the shelves and send them quickly to Ukraine.

   They said there is a little more than $4 billion available in longer-term 
funding through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative that will not expire 
at the end of the month. That money, which expires Sept. 30, 2025, is used to 
pay for weapons contracts that would not be delivered for a year or more.

   Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that as 
the Defense Department comptroller provides options to senior defense and 
military service leaders, they will look at ways they can tap the PDA and USAI 
funding.

   He said it could be important to Ukraine as it prepares for the winter fight.

   "One of the areas that we could do work with them on ... is air defense 
capabilities and the ability to defend their critical infrastructure," Brown 
told reporters traveling with him to meetings in Europe. "It's very important 
to Ukraine on how they defend their national infrastructure, but also set their 
defenses for the winter so they can slow down any type of Russian advance 
during the winter months."

   Earlier Thursday at the Pentagon, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the press secretary, 
noted that the PDA gives the Pentagon the ability to spend money from its 
budget to send military aid to Ukraine. Funding in the $61 billion supplemental 
bill for Ukraine passed in April can reimburse the department for the weapons 
it sends.

   "Right now, we're continuing to work with Congress to see about getting 
those authorities extended to enable us to continue to do drawdown packages," 
said Ryder. "In the meantime, you're going to continue to see drawdown 
packages. But we'll have much more to provide on that in the near future."

   The U.S. has routinely announced new drawdown packages -- often two to three 
a month.

   Failure by lawmakers to act on the PDA funding could once again deliver a 
serious setback in Ukraine's battle against Russia, just five months after a 
bitterly divided Congress finally overcame a long and devastating gridlock and 
approved new Ukraine funding.

   Delays in passing that $61 billion for Ukraine earlier this year triggered 
dire battlefield conditions as Ukrainian forces ran low on munitions and 
Russian forces were able to make gains. Officials have blamed the monthslong 
deadlocked Congress for Russia's ability to take more territory.

   Since funding began again, U.S. weapons have flowed into Ukraine, bolstering 
the forces and aiding Kyiv's incursion into Russia's Kursk region. Ukraine's 
forces stormed across the border five weeks ago and put Russian territory under 
foreign occupation for the first time since World War II.