From the Daily Mail: "US Army says it will RUN OUT of money to protect Europe and Africa by May if Ukraine aid isn't approved: Congress facing growing pressure to send more money to keep basic operations going."
"But Docent," you ask, "why would lack of funding for Ukraine mean that the Army will run out of money to protect Europe and Africa?" Good question. And the answer, according to the article, is that the Army took the funds it was given to protect Europe and Africa and used them for Ukraine, assuming that Congress would allocate funds for Ukraine and they could cover over the misuse of the funds. Or, as the article explains:
The U.S. is currently siphoning hundreds of millions of dollars to support Ukraine amid an impasse in Congress.
Since the start of this fiscal year, October 2023, the Army has spent over $430 million on Ukraine-related operations, including training Ukrainian troops, transporting weapons and deploying U.S. troops to Europe.
The Army's Europe and Africa Command has about $3 billion left to cover its operating costs that are expected to amount to $5 billion in 2024, one senior Army official told CNN - and could run out of money by May.
'If we don't get a base budget, if we don't get Ukraine supplemental [funding package], if the government shuts down, if we get nothing else and nothing changes from today…we will run out of [operations and maintenance] funding in May,' the official told the publication.
For months lawmakers have looked for a way to pass a supplemental funding package to get money to Ukraine, but appetite for funding its war against Russia has waned on Capitol Hill.
Soon the Army will have to arbitrage funding, with Army Secretary Christine Wormuth telling CNN she expects they will have to 'rob Peter to pay Paul.'
Well, Christine, the Army is in this position because it was already "robbing Peter to pay Paul."
'Every incremental dollar I have, it's very important where I put that dollar. And I'm constantly choosing between, do we put it on barracks? Do I put it on enlistment incentives? Do I put it on exercises? Do I put it on modernization? I don't have spare cash to be just sort of donating some of that,' Wormuth, the service's civilian leader tasked with budgeting, told CNN.
I'm pretty sure that the Army has to submit a budget to Congress that lays out how much goes to specific projects and expenses. That is, the Army isn't just given big wad of money that they can spend anyway they want, but that the budget submitted to and approved by Congress tells them what types of things they can spend it on and how much. But the Army appears to be admitting that it treats its budget like one big piggy-bank.
'This was money that we anticipated to be replenished, obviously, by the supplemental,' she added, reiterating the need for congressional action.
So the Army just assumed that Congress would cough up more money. Well, you know the old saying about the word "assume"--it just makes an ass out of you and me.
This is often how embezzlers start out: taking money from one account to cover a loss in another account, and it just keeps going on and on until it finally can't be covered up anymore. So who is the idiot that started this? We don't have to guess:
While US funding for Ukraine has run dry, training for Ukrainian troops has continued because it's been deemed mission critical by the president.
There is another old saying--one popular with President Truman--"the buck stops here". Probably one that Biden needs to learn.
I'm sorry that the Army is going to run out of money to protect the borders of other countries, and the people that misused the funds allocated for those purposes should be jailed or, at the minimum, drummed out of the service with dishonorable discharges. Biden should be impeached. But Congress should not give in to the Army's blackmail.
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