(NRCC News) – Last week, Joe Biden paid a special visit to his money laundering cohort Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a staged media opportunity. Meanwhile, in Washington DC, US Rep. James Comer (R-KY) and a team of colleagues were drafting a letter that the regime had to see coming.
While Biden was in Ukraine he vowed to keep sending taxpayer dollars which are already well in excess of $100 billion. He promised that the US will stand by Ukraine for “as long as it takes.” It doesn’t matter to Joe Biden or a single Democrat that the American people aren’t too keen on continuing US involvement in this international affair. They’re going to keep the money flowing and we all know why.
James Comer is the new chair of the House Oversight Committee and he’s got a clear message for the Biden regime: Save your receipts.
Now that the committee is being led by a Republican, it’s finally doing its job and demanding the regime turn over all documents and internal communications “regarding any economic assistance programs for the Ukrainian government” and to turn over similar material “regarding any anti-corruption efforts” as they relate to both financial and military aid, reports RealClear Politics.
To commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion, Comer’s letter has promised to bring on the most comprehensive audit of the war effort to date.
“Providing security and humanitarian assistance for warfighting and reconstruction purposes comes with an inherent risk of fraud, waste, and abuse,” Comer wrote, before insisting that the U.S. must develop “oversight mechanisms” to mitigate risks made worse by mandates to spend money “quickly.”
House Republicans want to see where all the money and all weapons have gone. The committee is asking for a comprehensive account of “strategies for end-use monitoring of weapons, equipment, direct budgeting assistance, and any other form of economic or security assistance for the Ukrainian people.”
They also want all materials regarding how much federal money has already been spent and “and how much remains in the spending pipeline.”
Additionally, Comer wants to know material related to “any benchmarks for success” of aid programs as well as “any conditions imposed on funds provided as assistance to Ukraine.”
He’s called on the regime to provide answers but there likely will be none. The letter was addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Administrator Samantha Powers of the U.S Agency for International Development.
Ahead of the midterm elections, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy stated that a Republican-led House wouldn’t write “a blank check” to Ukraine and vowed accountability for the American people. The regime knew this day was coming.
RealClear Politics points out:
There are reasons for concern. While Zelenskyy rose to power on an anti-corruption platform, the former Eastern Bloc country has a history of struggling with government fraud and graft. They regularly rank toward the bottom of international corruption indexes, a track record that has even ardent supporters of the defensive war worried.
When Sen. Angus King traveled to Ukraine last month, the independent from Maine told RCP he warned Zelenskyy that misappropriation of funds or misplaced guns could undermine support in the West: “I said a scandal would really screw this up.”
That message was well received. As per King, “He got it immediately.” But verbal assurances are not enough to assuage Republican concerns, and according to the Joint Strategic Oversight Plan for Ukraine Response report, the administration has struggled to account exactly for all the billions spent. The Pentagon Inspector General, for instance, warned that the department was “unable to provide end-use monitoring in accordance with DoD policy.”
Comer is demanding answers regarding a myriad of topics including a policy that requires tracking the serial numbers on weapons and ammunition to ensure they are being used as intended.
Meanwhile, the money being sent to Ukraine has reached astronomical levels. Congress has already appropriated a whopping $113 billion in economic and security aid to Ukraine over the course of one year. Compare that to the $146 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Afghanistan over the span of two decades. What is really going on here?
The regime insists it’s all on the up-and-up. According to Biden lackey John Kirby, they haven’t seen any maleficence so far and have no reason to believe the military or financial aid “have fallen prey to any kind of corruption in Ukraine.”
Well good thing we’ve got their word for it.
When asked to confirm that the regime had not yet identified any misuse of equipment or misappropriation of funds from the US, Kirby, the national security spokesman, responded, “correct.”
However, the Oversight Committee pointed to this response after news that Zelenskyy fired several senior officials who were allegedly engaged in bribery and misuse of public funds.
“Based on Mr. Kirby’s remarks,” Comer wrote in the letter, “the U.S. National Security Council appears unaware of this corruption scandal, heightening concerns that U.S. agencies are not conducting oversight of taxpayer assistance to Ukraine.”
Either someone’s not doing their job or someone’s lying.
RealClear Politics reveals:
But responding to those reports directly, Kirby told reporters that the firing of senior Ukrainian officials demonstrated how Zelenskyy and the U.S. shared concerns over corruption allegations “and it is apparent that he takes it seriously.” Victoria Nuland, undersecretary of state for political affairs, later echoed that sentiment telling the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the staffing changes in Kyiv sent “a very strong signal to others who would try to rip off this war effort.”
Comer is asking the regime to provide information related to any anti-corruption efforts going back to Feb 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Comer is demanding a response “as soon as possible” and has given the administration a two-week deadline. The information is expected “no later than March 8, 2023.”
Copyright 2023. NRCCNews.org
Why not have accountability to all money this administration gives away to the detriment of the citizens here in the US. Every penny needs to be looked at, especially to those that hate up.
Don’t hold your breath. Just how much of these funds are filtering back to the DNC? There is no way they are going to comply with accountability.
I was under the, obviously mistaken, impression that the House of Representatives controlled the purse strings on funding. So, where is all this tax payer money coming from.