US Congress Has Two Weeks to Safeguard $6 Billion Ukraine Aid Package

Defense News, a military issues website, citing US Department of Defense (DoD) officials, reported that about $5.8 billion in currently approved presidential drawdown authority (PDA) will expire at the end of the month unless Congress acts to extend the authorization.

PDA is the mechanism whereby the Pentagon can allocate weapons, equipment and materiel from DoD stockpiles for relatively rapid transfer of supplies to Ukraine with the funding used for replacement items.

Sept. 30 marks the end of the current fiscal year. The sources said that the Biden administration has formally requested the legislature to wrap up a 12-month extension for the existing PDA funding authority as part of a continuing resolution that is being debated, which would avoid a shutdown of the federal government.

The source said the DoD was working on other unspecified options to secure the funding if the White House’s request doesn’t succeed. He said this was being done in parallel with its assessment of the implications of Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region, how it might alter Kyiv’s weapon requirements.

The official said that the Pentagon still has around $100 million in PDA that will not expire in September and there is just over $4 billion still available in longer-term funding through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which still has another year before it expires, but has to be used for the procurement through longer-term weapons contracts some that that would not be delivered for a year or more.

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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q Brown will provide options to senior defense and military service leaders in ways that PDA and USAI funding can be best used.

He said on Thursday that it was critical to solve these financial issues as Ukraine prepares for the winter fight.

He told reporters traveling with him as he attended meetings in Europe that “One of the areas that we could do work with them [Ukrainians] on… is air defense capabilities and the ability to defend their critical infrastructure.”

Brown added: “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.”

Also on Thursday, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, noted that the PDA gives the Pentagon the ability to spend money from within the $61 billion supplemental bill for Ukraine that was passed in April, which would 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,” Ryder said. “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.”

Failure by Congress to act on this PDA funding would once again represent an avoidable material setback to Ukraine’s battle against Russia only five months after it overcame the seven-month gridlock on new Ukraine funding. Officials said that was responsible for the territorial gains Moscow made in its summer counteroffensive.  

Conversely many believe that the delayed injection of substantial funding that was released in April, allowed the strengthening and reorganization of Kyiv’s forces that made its Aug. 6 incursion into Russia’s Kursk region possible.