The Biden White House on Monday petitioned House Speaker Mike Johnson and other congressional leaders for more money for Ukraine’s war effort with a naked plea to back the play to also benefit U.S. defense contractors.
GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie were not amused. Both lawmakers slammed the White House’s pitch as evidence that funding the “military-industrial complex” is really what drives U.S. foreign policy in Ukraine.
Greene, a Georgia Republican, denounced the White House’s reference as “disgusting.”
The letter appeared a day ahead of a speech to the U.S. Senate by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to the Associated Press. Zelenskyy will push senators to support President Joe Biden’s push for another $106 billion in military funding, about two-thirds of which would go to Ukraine.
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Republicans have argued against the measure, calling for it to be split up with separate votes on funding for Ukraine, Israel and interests in Asia.
The letter to lawmakers, issued by Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, argued that “without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from U.S. military stocks. There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of money—and nearly out of time.”
American taxpayers have already spent $111 billion on Ukraine’s nearly 2-year-old war with Russia.
She said a failure to act by Congress would “kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield, not only putting at risk the gains Ukraine has made, but increasing the likelihood of Russian military victories.”
Then, she veered off to promote what the White House, in its latest nod to George Orwell, calls the American Defense Industrial Base, or DIB. Otherwise known as the military-industrial complex.
Feeding Ukraine U.S-made weaponry “has bolstered our DIB in America” by the Defense Department “buying new equipment to replace what we are sending Ukraine, jumpstarting and expanding production lines, and … supporting good-paying jobs in dozens of states across the country.”
Young then spelled that out.
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“The President’s most recent national security supplemental request will build on our successful efforts to date and will direct over $50 billion into our nation’s DIB, which builds on the funding that has already been invested in manufacturing lines across 35 states,” she wrote.
She added that the White House “cannot predict exactly which U.S companies will be awarded new contracts,” but it does know that the money will buy:
Air-defense systems built in Alabama, Texas, and Georgia with components sourced from nearly all 50 states.
Javelin anti-tank systems made in Alabama
Guided rocket launchers made in West Virginia, Arkansas and Texas
Tactical vehicles made in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana
Artillery shells made in Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and Iowa and many other states.
“We are out of money to support Ukraine in this fight. This isn’t a next year problem. The time to help a democratic Ukraine fight against Russian aggression is right now. It is time for Congress to act,” Young concluded.
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Young’s letter also appeared two days after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a former board member for Raytheon, gave a speech in California in which he trashed critics of continuing funding for the Ukraine war as seeking to “undermine the security architecture that has produced decades of prosperity without great-power war” and preparing to “retreat from responsibility.”
Some unprovoked irony from the Pentagon chief who oversaw the hasty pullout of U.S troops from Afghanistan.
On X (formerly Twitter), Massie, a Kentucky Republican, panned Young’s approach.
“Believe them when they tell you, funding these wars is mostly about enriching America’s Military Industrial Complex,” he wrote on X. The plan is to ‘revitalize’ the Defense Industrial Base. Ending the war in Afghanistan was tough on profits.”
Responding to Massie, Greene added, “‘Revitalize’ the Defense Industrial Base aka MIC (built in America) by funding foreign wars. The promise of gov[ernment] contracts to defense companies by getting congress to vote for foreign war. What a disgusting business model. Our classified Ukraine briefing on Tuesday is timely.”
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