Republican Senators J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced legislation on Wednesday aimed to prevent the Pentagon from making any more “accounting errors,” after the Biden Administration revealed that it overestimated the value of military equipment sent to Ukraine by $6 billion.
According to Fox News, the bill would require that, when the Foreign Assistance Act’s presidential drawdown authority (PDA) is used for a emergency, the Department of Defense (DoD) must calculate the "aggregate value" of defense articles, by using either the original acquisition cost to the U.S. government plus the cost of improvements or modifications made, or the cost of replacing these articles, whichever is greater.
It would also force the DoD to calculate the full cost of what the U.S. government spends on providing defense services.
"There should be no excuse for accounting errors with a seven-figure price tag," Vance told Fox Digital. "With this bill, Congress can ensure that the cost of our military aid is properly and consistently calculated."
Senator Hawley told Fox Digital that the "so-called valuation errors around U.S. aid to Ukraine are a transparent attempt to bypass Congress for additional funds, while continuing to prioritize Ukraine over more vital U.S. interests, including deterring China in the Pacific."
The PDA allows the president to send military equipment to foreign countries from DoD’s current stockpiles. This is how the U.S. has been sending Ukraine equipment for the last two years. Drawdown authority allows the government to quickly send supplies without having to buy new equipment.
However, this maneuver depletes U.S. stockpiles.
Last month Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh revealed that the replacement costs of the equipment were used to estimate the value, rather than the book cost of the equipment that was pulled from the U.S. stockpile. This resulted in a $6.3 billion dollar overvaluation and extra money in the coffers for Ukraine.
Hawley and Vance are not the only senators who are concerned about these “accounting errors” at the Pentagon. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) sent a letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), asking it to review the entirety of the DoD’s accounting of all equipment provided to Ukraine.
The letter also points out that the Biden Administration might be purposely overvaluing the equipment, in order to give more aid that’s actually being reported.