How USAID Spends American Tax Dollars in Ukraine - GOP Senator Demands Accountability

Recent months have seen growing congressional strife over the US’ policy on funding Ukraine, with the Senate recently blocking the House’s $14 billion “Israel-only” package.

Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa has called on Samantha Power, the administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), to clarify where American taxpayer dollars are going in Ukraine.

In a letter to Power obtained by a US media outlet, Ernst wrote that she finds “these assistance activities and USAID’s lack of transparency particularly troublesome” in connection with the Biden administration’s recent request of about $14 billion in additional appropriations for non-military funding to Ukraine.

The senator added that she’s unwilling to agree to dole out almost $25 billion in “hardworking Americans’ tax dollars for so-called economic aid to Ukraine."

Ernst urged Power to provide a complete list of businesses in Ukraine that have received American support via USAID programs, funded “in whole or in part” by Washington since February 2022.

The remarks come after Erin McKee, USAID's assistant administrator, said that the White House’s direct budget support for Ukraine had run out in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“That means they [the Ukrainian government] don’t have any resources to take care of their own people and govern,” McKee added.

This comes as the House and the Senate remain at odds over whether Washington should continue funding Ukraine. In early November, the lower chamber passed a bill to send emergency aid worth $14.2 billion to Israel only, a document that was then blocked by the Senate.

The US, along with its NATO allies, ramped up assistance to Ukraine shortly after the beginning of the Russian special military operation there. Moscow has repeatedly warned that such assistance adds to the prolongation of the conflict in Ukraine.