Biden Investigates Use of State Department Grants to Fund Weapons for Ukraine

The Biden administration is weighing up a range of options to find additional money to support Ukraine after legislators blocked funding in the last-minute deal to avert a government shutdown, according to Politico.

It seems that Biden’s team is considering using a State Department grant mechanism designed to provide assistance to foreign governments for the purchase of US defense equipment, military training or related services under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.

President Biden hinted at the strategy on Wednesday. “There is another means by which we may be able to find funding for that,” he said, without providing further details.

A White House official said the president’s comments concerned previous “existing funding authorities” granted to the administration by Congress “that allow us to provide additional support to Ukraine for a bit longer if Congress doesn’t act.”

As of Sept. 21, the US had roughly $650 million remaining out of $4.6 billion in foreign military financing approved by Congress for two supplemental packages for Ukraine, according to the State Department.

While this would give the US breathing space to maintain essential support to Ukraine, it would only be a short-term fix. Although it might also be possible to redirect funding from elsewhere in the Pentagon budget, this would also require approval from US lawmakers.

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In August, the administration approved a military transfer to Taiwan under the foreign military financing program, normally used for sovereign states.

Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the press secretary for the Department of Defense (DoD) said that “reprogramming is always an option for urgent needs.”

He went on: “We remain committed to working with Congress on the Ukraine supplemental [packages] and receiving a full budget.”

Just a week ago the Pentagon warned lawmakers in a letter that the DoD “has exhausted nearly all available security assistance funding for Ukraine,” although $1.6 billion remained in that part of the budget allocated to replenish US weapons inventories.

While Biden said he was concerned about the possibility of running out of funding to support Ukraine, was confident that “a majority of members of the House and Senate, in both parties” supported funding the war.

On Wednesday the Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat from New York, said he was working with the Republican leader Mitch McConnell, from Kentucky, “to get a big package done” for Ukraine.