Ernst Continues Pressure on Biden Administration for Ongoing Delays in Humanitarian Aid to Ukraine
As of September, $3 billion of humanitarian aid to Ukraine remains unallocated.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is continuing her pressure on the Biden administration for their ongoing delay of humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
Earlier this year, Congress appropriated nearly $7 billion across two emergency packages to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for aid to Ukraine and countries affected. As of September, $2.8 billion of those funds remains unallocated. USAID to date has only obligated 60 percent of the funding provided by Congress, which is well below USAID’s own objective of only holding over 25 percent of the funding to the next fiscal year, which begins at the end of this month.
In a letter to USAID Administrator Samantha Power, the senators expressed their concern over the agency’s lack of urgency in the use of these funds while millions in Ukraine face starvation and national security concerns continue to arise globally. Ernst was joined by Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), John Thune (R-S.D.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Shelley Moore Capitol (R-W.V.).
Read the full letter here.
“The United States has provided tens of billions of dollars across multiple funding packages to help Ukraine defeat Vladimir Putin, prevent massive humanitarian harm, and mitigate a global food crisis,” said the senators. “We are worried, however, that the American people’s generosity is not being properly and swiftly used to help Ukraine. These extraordinary Congressional appropriations must be quickly and effectively mobilized to address the unfolding crisis.”
In July, Ernst led a bipartisan group of senators is a letter calling out USAID for their initial mismanaged rollout of the funds. Only two months ago, when Ernst penned the letter, USAID has not yet delivered or even committed all the funding from the first emergency aid package, and still holds half of the funding from the second package.
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