Congressionally Approved Ukraine Aid Totals $175 Billion

With the recent passage of the national security supplementals, Congress has now approved nearly $175 billion of aid and military assistance to support the Ukrainian government and allied nations two years after Russia launched its invasion. The most recent national security-related supplemental includes $61.7 billion for Ukraine, 64 percent of the total budget authority included within the law, with the remainder dedicated to Israel and the Indo-Pacific region. This is on top of the $113.1 billion of emergency spending previously approved throughout 2022.

According to the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) cost estimates, $5.9 billion of the most recently appropriated funds will be spent in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 and $16.3 billion in FY 2025. By the end of FY 2026, CBO estimates that over 60 percent of the newly approved funds will be spent, and over 90 percent will be spent by the end of FY 2028.

Of the total amount approved by Congress, about 67 percent ($117.4 billion) is designated for defense-related priorities and 33 percent ($57.4 billion) for nondefense priorities. The majority of nondefense funds – $34.8 billion – have been allocated towards the Economic Support Fund. The rest – $22.6 billion – consists of assistance for refugees, funding for democracy and diplomacy, and other economic assistance.

The three main channels for providing direct military aid to Ukraine are Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), and Foreign Military Financing (FMF). To date, the Biden Administration has used these three mechanisms to send a total of $53.7 billion to Ukraine since the war began in 2022.

The President can use PDA to send military equipment directly to Ukraine from Department of Defense stockpiles. President Biden has used PDA authority 54 times since 2022 to send $24.9 billion to Ukraine. Most recently, President Biden used PDA to send $1 billion to Ukraine using the recently appropriated funds. Congress sets the limit on how much support the President can provide through PDA in a given fiscal year. In the Ukraine supplemental, Congress approved $7.8 billion in PDA for FY 2024.

Through USAI, the federal government contracts with the private sector to provide training, supplies, and other operational needs to the Ukrainian military and other allies. The Biden Administration has used USAI to provide $24.9 billion out of the $31.8 billion authorized by Congress.

Finally, the federal government uses FMF to backfill the stockpiles of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies that have sent their own military hardware directly to Ukraine. The Biden Administration has provided $3.9 billion in FMF. The new supplemental increased the level of FMF authorized by Congress to $6.3 billion.

This aid comes on top of U.S. foreign aid obligations for Ukraine, which totaled $12.4 billion in 2022 and is around $1.5 billion annually on average based on data from the last ten years. The majority, $10.9 billion or 88 percent, of approved aid in 2022 consists of economic aid, with only $1.5 billion, or 12 percent, of military aid. This compares to the new national security supplemental where 82 percent is going to military aid and the remainder to economic support, diplomatic support and aid to refugees.

Congress has approved $175 billion of emergency support for Ukraine since 2022, and $53.7 billion has been sent to Ukraine in direct military aid, primarily through PDA, FMF and USAI. This funding also includes money for other forms of defense spending and nondefense needs, mainly economic support.