Evaluating America First Priorities in the White House Supplemental

President Biden’s recent emergency supplemental request for roughly $106 billion includes $61.4 billion of additional foreign assistance to Ukraine. The request also includes $14.3 billion in funding for Israel and $13.6 billion in additional funding for the border (White House Supplemental Request). Highlights include:

$61.4 billion - Additional funding for Ukraine
$14.3 billion - Funding for Israel
$9.15 billion - Unspecified humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, Israel, and Gaza
13.6 billion - Border Supplement
$7 billion - Security Assistance for the Indo-Pacific region, especially Taiwan
Total: $106 billion

The supplemental fails to advance America First policies

President Biden’s supplemental request fails to put the needs of Americans first. His request puts foreign war funding for Ukraine—without including a clear strategy for Ukraine—on equal footing as direct assistance for Israel, our greatest ally in the Middle East, slowing the process and delaying the disbursement of these much-needed funds. This inappropriate effort to combine this funding risks postponing the distribution of money to high priority items. Congress should remove foreign war funding from other spending requests and evaluate them separately. The following is a breakdown of the funding requests—certain requests deserve more scrutiny.

Of the funds for military aid to Israel:

$4.4 billion for costs associated with “Operations and Maintenance” for U.S. military activities in response to the war in Israel.

$4.8 billion for “Weapons Procurement” to strengthen and accelerate U.S. production capacity of defense equipment and weapons stocks in response to the war in Israel.

$1.2 billion for “Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation” to support the development of defensive systems capabilities for Israel’s military, including the Iron Beam defense system.  

Of the funds for military aid to Ukraine:

$212 million to support the deployment of U.S. “Military Personnel” in the European theatre command in response to the war in Ukraine.

$37.3 billion for costs associated with “Operations and Maintenance” for U.S. European theatre command in response to the war in Ukraine.

$6.3 billion for “Weapons Procurement” to replenish U.S. defense stocks depleted due to the war in Ukraine.

$562 million for “Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation” to support defense operations in the European theatre.

Up to $4 billion in Department of Defense (DoD) funds congruent to Title VIII General Provisions the “support to combat operations” to “address the fluid nature of Ukrainian operations.”

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine commenced, the U.S. has given a disproportionate amount of military aid to Ukraine that far exceeds the combined military contributions of our NATO allies. Read more about the America First Vision for an End State in Ukraine in the America First Policy Institute’s (AFPI) Defining the Direction of U.S. Assistance issue brief.

• The U.S. has provided $46.6 billion in military equipment to Ukraine, while our allies have given a combined total of $32.4 billion.

The Biden Administration has not defined an end-state to this war and continues to ask Congress for additional funds. This approach depletes America’s defense stockpiles. In the absence of a defined end-state and strategy, it is unclear how the authorization of an additional $61.4 billion for military equipment and defense to Ukraine will advance America’s vital national interests.

Furthermore, while this supplemental aid package does allocate $5 million for the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General to “sustain and expand oversight of U.S. funding for Ukraine” and $10 million to the U.S. Agency for International Development’s oversight of the distribution of Ukraine funds, Congress, and the DoD should not be authorizing additional aid until there are mechanisms in place to ensure full accountability and transparency of all funds given to Ukraine.

• Numerous press reports detailing Ukrainian corruption, wasting U.S. aid, and military equipment shipments to Ukraine demonstrate the need for stronger accountability and oversight measures over U.S. aid.

Of the funds for the Foreign Military Financing Program:

$1.7 billion to Ukraine to support the defensive and deterrence capabilities of Ukraine and other countries in the region affected by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

$3.5 billion to Israel to support the defensive and deterrence capabilities of Israel’s military.

$2 billion to the Indo-Pacific Region to support military assistance for U.S. security partners in the region.

Of the funds for humanitarian support to Ukraine and Israel:

$3.5 billion to the Migration and Refugee Assistance account within the Department of State (DOS). These resources would go to the humanitarian support of residents of Ukraine displaced by Russia’s invasion and the residents of Israel, including Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. However, concerns remain about how the Biden Administration will ensure these funds and resources do not end up in the hands of Hamas.

The White House’s border supplement doesn’t allocate money for border security. Instead, it includes:

$481 million to the unlawful “Uniting for Ukraine” (U4U) parole program, providing cash, medical assistance, job training, English language classes, and more for inadmissible aliens. [p. 35]

• The U4U program was set up by the Biden Administration, promising to raise “private” resources for Ukrainians and provide a sponsor responsible for maintaining their financial needs. If this program already utilizes private sponsorship, why are millions in taxpayer funds needed to backfill this failing program?
• Read more about the illegality of the Biden Administration’s parole proposal in AFPI’s The Biden Administration’s New Plan Fails to Solve the Border Crisis issue brief.

Extends the ability of U4U parolees to receive unlawful welfare benefits through the end of FY24. [p. 36]

• Beyond the illegality of U4U, this request continues to enlarge the pool of inadmissible aliens treated like refugees to immediately become eligible for taxpayer-funded welfare, creating a temporary immigration status category for parolees.
• The total fiscal cost of this program to American taxpayers is unknown.
• Read AFPI’s DHS’s Unlawful Use of Parole is a Profit Driver for Cartels and Human Traffickers issue brief.

$3.5 billion for displaced Ukrainians. [p. 40]

• This provision provides taxpayer-funded benefits to Ukrainians, resources unavailable to other populations around the world coming from war-torn environments like India, Somalia, or Yemen.
• This request is another example of the administration’s lie that U4U would have sponsors provide for the parolees.

$2.5 billion to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) for fentanyl-related interdiction activities and programs. [Attachment 5]

• The White House fails to acknowledge its open border policies fuel the fentanyl crisis. (Combating Fentanyl, AFPI)

$4.4 billion for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) management operations, including soft-sided facilities, migrant transportation, and medical care requirements. [Attachment 5]

• This is for processing illegal aliens, not deterring illegal immigration or enforcing the existing law.
• Millions of taxpayer dollars to Federal Emergency Management Administration for Shelter and Services Program grants that go to NGOs that provide housing and other resources for illegal aliens.
• “Soft-sided facilities” were heavily criticized during the Trump administration.
• Millions to CBP to reimburse DoD for “border security support” along the border.

$849 million to CBP for “non-intrusive inspection” technology to interdict fentanyl and human trafficking. [Attachment 5]

• The Biden Administration continues to wrongly insist that fentanyl only comes across the border at ports of entry. If the current open borders policies continue, fentanyl, human traffickers, and national security threats will still pour across our unsecured border.

$2.5 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hire additional criminal investigators, attorneys, and support staff. An undeclared amount for “immigration enforcement, detention, transportation, and removal.” [Attachment 5]

• Criminal investigators are not involved in immigration removal proceedings, and the hiring of additional attorneys will take months to years, which will have little effect on the current case backlog.
• The proposal does not alter ICE’s current “enforcement priorities” that exempt nearly all illegal aliens from being deported.

$13.8 million to DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate to “support counter-fentanyl research and development.” [Attachment 5]

$1.42 billion to DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review to hire 375 additional Immigration Judges and support staff through FY24. [Attachment 5]

• The hiring process within the Department of Justice takes six months at a minimum and is far too long to make a dent in the caseload, which is the highest in history. The Biden Administration also does not have a history of hiring applicants who would enforce the laws on the books.
• Throwing more money at the immigration problem is not the answer. The current caseload for immigration judges is never-ending.
• Alternately, spending $3.9 billion would produce more than 350 miles of new border wall system to help secure the border and disrupt the drug trafficking networks. 

$23.2 million to the Drug Enforcement Agency to combat fentanyl and drug networks in the U.S. [Attachment 5]

• The Biden Administration fails to recognize the connection between open borders and the fentanyl crisis.

$50 million to the Department of Labor (DOL)’s Wage & Hour division for efforts to protect children from exploitation, particularly vulnerable children entering the U.S. through the southern border. [Attachment 5]

• The Biden Administration eliminated vetting standards at HHS facilities and for sponsors of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) that increase the likelihood of child labor exploitation.
• This is an insufficient amount of money to contend with the record number of UACs trafficked across the border.
• The Biden Administration also has hampered ICE’s ability to conduct worksite enforcement.
• See AFPI’s 2021-2023: Child Exploitation at the Southern Border Issue Brief for more. 

$50 million to DOL Solicitor’s office to prosecute companies exploiting child labor. [Attachment 5]

• *See above*

$50 million to DOS “Diplomatic Programs” to promote and process unlawful categorical parole programs. [Attachment 5]

• Continues to fund the Biden Administration’s abuse of immigration law and policies designed to hide the optics of the border crisis.

$850 million to DOS “Migration and Refugee Assistance” to fund illegal aliens from the Western Hemisphere exploiting categorical parole. [Attachment 5]

$400 million to DOS “International Assistance Programs” to provide American taxpayer dollars to the governments of Central American countries whose nationals make up a large percentage of the illegal aliens making fraudulent asylum claims at the southern border. [Attachment 5]

• No evidence suggests these governments will finally take steps to keep their nationals in their own countries or enforce their own immigration laws against nationals of other countries who transit through them on their way to the U.S.

Conclusion

Congress should evaluate foreign war funding for Ukraine separate from support for Israel and various other domestic spending proposals. Spending more money on the border is not the answer. The Biden Administration’s strategy of processing and transporting more illegal aliens into our country requires a fundamental policy change, which AFPI has researched and reported on extensively. Further, as the Biden Administration is the first in U.S. history to preside over a more than $1.7 trillion budget gap, Congress should strongly consider reforms that offset all new spending proposals while advancing policies that put America First.