The Biden administration admitted on Tuesday that it’d overestimated the value of some of the weapons that it’d given Ukraine, meaning it therefore now has even money leftover to funnel over to the European nation.
The announcement came during a Pentagon press briefing Tuesday afternoon by Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh.
Listen:
Oops. We overpaid Ukraine by several billion. No biggie. BPR based on Twitter
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) June 21, 2023
“Following up from some announcements earlier this year, during the department’s regular oversight of our execution of presidential drawdown authority for Ukraine, we discovered inconsistencies in equipment valuation for Ukraine,” she said.
“In a significant number of cases, services used replacement costs rather than net book value, thereby overestimating the value of the equipment drawn down from U.S. stocks and provided to Ukraine,” she added.
In other words, the United States gave Ukraine weapons/equipment that was worth less than expected.
“Once we discovered this misvaluation, the Comptroller reissued guidance on March 31st clarifying how to value equipment in line with the financial management regulation and DOD policy to ensure we use the most accurate of accounting methods,” Singh continued.
“We have confirmed that for F.Y. ’23 the final calculation is $3.6 billion and for F.Y. ’22 it is $2.6 billion, for a combined total of $6.2 billion,” she added.
And so the weapons/equipment that were given to Ukraine were worth $6.2 billion less than had been recorded.
What does this mean? Basically, that the U.S. now has $6.2 billion extra to give to Ukraine. Which is good in a way because it likely mitigates “the need for Congress to pass an additional assistance package before the end of the fiscal year in September,” according to CNN.
Put differently, Congress won’t have to authorize more money for Ukraine because there’s already $6.2 billion just sitting there.
Of course, Americans would greatly prefer that this $6.2 billion instead be used to, you know, take care of the American people:
Unbelievable! And yet we have homeless veterans living on the streets!
— Steve F (@SteveFunderburg) June 20, 2023
How many homeless vets could have a place to stay for that amount of money?
— Les Humbl/Dogecoin (@Les_loves_Humbl) June 20, 2023
Meanwhile, vets are denied healthcare that they fought for.
What a world…
— edwardoverthere (@edwardoverthere) June 21, 2023
This right here is enough of a reason for me to vote for anyone that stops this madness. I do not appreciate my tax dollars being sent overseas, especially to fund a war we should not be involved in.
— David Karim (@davidkarim) June 20, 2023
Stop sending our hard earned tax dollar to UKRAINE!!! The money is unaccounted for and being used to stuff people’s pockets and for pay to play for the Liar in Chief and his family. Just STOP now.
— FJB Deanna (@Dianeoldfart) June 21, 2023
This is just both parties catering to the defense lobby. We can’t afford to fund another forever war. We can’t even fix our own crime and homelessness problems. Fund the police. Fund our US veterans that were forced into wars.
— This Is Fine (@GrumpyMcLovin) June 20, 2023
Part of that 6.2 billion could fix I-95 and many other dangerous parts of our roads and rail lines, instead they would rather lie and send it to Ukraine and continue subsidizing Ukrainian pension funds and filling their pockets.
— Ken W. (@tampa_npa) June 20, 2023
Interestingly, Republicans weren’t pleased by this development.
CNN notes that the Pentagon had last month estimated the accounting error to be only $3 billion. At the time, House Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul and House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers responded to the news by complaining that Ukraine could have used that money in its latest initiative.
“The revelation of a three-billion-dollar accounting error discovered two months ago and only today shared with Congress is extremely problematic, to say the least. These funds could have been used for extra supplies and weapons for the upcoming counteroffensive, instead of rationing funds to last for the remainder of the fiscal year,” they wrote in a joint letter.
This latest news comes days after the publication of a new Pew Research Center poll showing that 28 percent of Americans, including 44 percent of Republicans, believe the Biden administration is giving Ukraine too much money.
“Currently, 44% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say the U.S. is giving too much aid to Ukraine, up modestly since January (40%) and the highest level since shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year,” the Center reported last Thursday.
Regarding the $6.2 billion accounting error, some critics have noted that anyone who was to make the same sort of mistake in the private business world would be fired immediately:
Shouldn’t they have fired that accountant last year after the first error?
— tab (@StabbyTab) June 20, 2023
And yet the IRS would never let an accounting error fly with citizens
— Digworthy Marshall (@SecNerd1126) June 20, 2023
So a total of $6.2 billion. When will the heads roll? I don’t know any company that can make a $6.2 billion error and heads do not roll.
— Think for Yourself (@PhilipBLee) June 20, 2023
Why doesn’t the Government ever find accounting errors in favor of American taxpayers and give $ back to us?
— Savannah (@BasedSavannah) June 20, 2023
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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