Ukraine aid

On Tuesday, the US Senate passed the National Security Act, 2024 by a 70-29 vote. The bill proposes $95.3B in spending allocations for priorities including Ukraine support, Israel assistance, Gaza aid, and Indo-Pacific ally support and China deterrence. It replaces the previously failed “border bill” (covered in last week’s brief) by stripping out contentious border provisions but is expected to face heavy opposition in the House of Representatives.

Recent debate has centered around the bill’s $60.1B in Ukraine-related aid allocations, which make up a majority of the proposed spending package. These allocations include:

$19.9B to replenish Department of Defense (DoD) inventory depleted by weapons and equipment provided to Ukraine. (Note: This funding pays US defense contractors to supply replacement weapons and equipment to the DoD. Weapons in the DoD inventory are ultimately sent to Ukraine through a separate process called a presidential drawdown.)
$13.8B for Ukraine to purchase weapons directly from US defense suppliers.
$14.8B for military training, intelligence, and related support to Ukraine.
$7.9B in support of continued Ukrainian government operations.
$1.6B to bolster air, sea, and artillery capabilities for Ukraine and the region.

For context: Since the Russo-Ukrainian War began in Feb 2022, the US has allocated approximately $113.4B in aid for Ukraine. The last aid package was passed in Dec 2022 and the last presidential drawdown was in Dec 2023. (The US has effectively run out of military-purpose allocations for Ukraine.)

There are a wide variety of perspectives supporting and opposing additional US aid to Ukraine. Below are notable viewpoints to help you learn more about the issue and form a viewpoint of your own.

Notable viewpoints

SUPPORTING ADDITIONAL AID TO UKRAINE

Funding Ukraine is critical to deterrence.

Supporting Ukraine's fight against Russia is a critical method of deterrence against future acts of aggression by Russia and similar authoritarian regimes.
Bolstering Ukraine’s continued fight will help deter China from aggression against Taiwan by displaying how costly it is to invade an American ally.

Ukraine can still achieve success in the war.

With greater support from the US and Europe, Ukraine can still successfully defend its territory and spur favorable negotiations to end the conflict.
Ukraine needs support to inflict more damage on Russian forces before it is in a position to negotiate a favorable conclusion.
Ukraine can still achieve victory and expel Russia from its borders.

Aid is urgently needed to limit loss of life.

Ukraine urgently needs to replenish its shortage of US-provided artillery shells and Patriot missiles, facing risk of greater casualties without US aid.

The economic tradeoffs are relatively insignificant.

The cost of Ukraine funding is insignificant compared to its benefits; proposed 2024 US aid to Ukraine is estimated to be less than 1/30 of the annual federal budget deficit while total defense spending as a percentage of GDP is near post-WWII lows.
Ukraine aid packages directly support the US military industrial base through payments to domestic manufacturers of weapons and equipment.

Defending Ukraine is a moral obligation.

Supporting Ukraine is part of an American obligation to defend democracy abroad.

OPPOSING ADDITIONAL AID TO UKRAINE

Aid to Ukraine distracts from more important issues at home and abroad.

Aid to Ukraine is detracting from more important deterrence measures the US should be taking against China in Taiwan.
Ukraine aid is distracting from more important domestic issues such as border security.

Ukraine cannot achieve victory in the war.

Sending aid to Ukraine is a waste of funds given Ukraine is unlikely to defeat Russia or regain its pre-war borders.
Putin is unlikely to back off given his reputation and continued authority depend on victory.
The US should be helping negotiate a favorable end to the war rather than prolonging it.

Additional aid will increase loss of life.

Prolonging the war in Ukraine through additional aid will cause more destruction and innocent lives lost.

The economic tradeoffs are too significant.

$61B in additional aid to Ukraine is unnecessary and comes at too great a cost to the US given the country’s oversized defense budget.
All unnecessary contributions to the $34T gross national debt threaten economic growth and increase inflation risk.

Ukraine is likely abusing aid from the US.

Ukraine has a demonstrated history of corruption and has proven recent misuse of its own wartime funds including a fraudulent arms deal.
US measures to monitor Ukraine’s use of aid are inadequate and need to be improved; in January, $1B+ in US military aid to Ukraine was found to be improperly tracked and at a greater risk of theft.

From the source

Read more from select primary sources and aggregated data:

Full text of the bill: National Security Act, 2024
Summary of the bill: National Security Act Redline
Ukraine aid fact sheet: US Security Cooperation with Ukraine
US Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) history: Budget Execution
Defense spending over time by country: World Bank data

Be heard

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