Senate GOP pitches competing NDAA amendments on Ukraine aid oversight, neither pass
Emily Jacobs
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A pair of competing National Defense Authorization Act amendments from Senate Republicans that would each boost congressional oversight of U.S. assistance to Ukraine went head to head on the floor on Wednesday evening.
Both amendments went down to defeat.
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The first came from Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee and staunch proponent of backing Ukraine against Russia’s military invasion. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), a vocal critic of U.S. efforts to back Ukraine in Russia’s war, teamed up with Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID), John Kennedy (R-LA), and Wicker on the effort, which would set up an office dedicated solely to auditing what the United States sends to Ukraine in terms of money and weaponry.
Their amendment would have allowed the president to choose who leads the office, whether that be an existing inspector general or someone new. It also requires the office, which would receive $10 million to hire around 30 full-time staffers, to report to Congress regularly.
Risch, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Wicker have long said there is sufficient oversight of Ukraine aid, though both have expressed willingness recently to consider efforts to centralize those audits.
Hawley told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday of the amendment, “It’s not perfect. It’s obviously not how I drafted it originally. I think my bill is better, but this is pretty good. It’s a strong, independent IG with real teeth to actually get information, report it to the public, with an independent staff and a budget, so we can finally get some accounting. So I think it’s a step forward.”
He also noted there was some Democratic interest in the measure.
The second amendment came from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who has also been critical of the vast U.S. resources utilized to support Ukraine’s war efforts. The Paul amendment would have established the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction and Ukraine Aid. The special inspector general, appointed by the president, would report to the secretary of state and secretary of defense.
The Senate voted 50-49 for the Wicker amendment, well below the 60 votes required for passage.
Paul’s amendment also required 60 votes to pass. Instead, it received just 20 to 78 votes against.
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Members have spent the last week debating the NDAA, which sets Pentagon policy and authorizes $886 billion in defense spending for fiscal 2024, a bill that the House passed earlier this month with several partisan provisions that are certain to be on the chopping block when the bill eventually goes to conference committee.
House Republicans, who control the lower chamber by a slim margin, are likely to respond warmly to the idea of a Ukraine aid oversight office, regardless of which amendment it was to be established through. Congress has authorized more than $100 billion in military and nondefense assistance on a bipartisan basis for Ukraine since Russia invaded last February.