WASHINGTON, January 5. /TASS/. The US Department of Defense will not be able to supply Ukraine with weapons from its warehouses until Congress approves the allocation of supplemental funds, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told a briefing.
"We have no more replenishment funds," he said, adding that he is "not anticipating any new PDA (Presidential Drawdown Authority - TASS) announcements in terms of new capabilities, which is why, you know, we'll continue to work closely with Congress and urge them to pass the supplemental."
According to the Pentagon spokesman, the US Depart of Defense has "roughly $4.2 billion in restored PDA authority." "But again, the replenishment funds are expended," he stressed. "So that is the authority to spend funds, again, without having the replenishment funds in order to actually replenish our own funds. It's the authority to spend them but not necessarily the funds available. Thus, we need the supplemental from Congress."
The White House submitted to Congress in October a supplemental finding request for the 2024 fiscal year, which began in the US on October 1, primarily to help Israel and Ukraine, but also to contain China and Russia in the Asia Pacific regiion. In total, the executive branch, led by Democrat Biden, would like to have about $106 billion for these purposes.
The future of the request and alternative bills remains unclear. Several Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate have recently spoken out against continued financial aid to Kiev. House Speaker Mike Johnson repeatedly said that he intends to condition the provision of further aid to Ukraine to the tightening of the control over the US’ southern border. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell spoke in a similar way.