[House Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                         MARKUP OF: H. RES. 158

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                      COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION
                               __________

                             March 24, 2023
                               __________

                            Serial No. 118-7
                               __________

        Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
        
        
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                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
                    
51-555PDF                  WASHINGTON : 2024                          



                      COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

                   MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas, Chairman

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey     GREGORY MEEKS, New York, Ranking 
JOE WILSON, South Carolina               Member
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania	     BRAD SHERMAN, California
DARRELL ISSA, California	     GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
ANN WAGNER, Missouri		     WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts
BRIAN MAST, Florida		     DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
KEN BUCK, Colorado		     AMI BERA, California
TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee		     JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
MARK E. GREEN, Tennessee	     DINA TITUS, Nevada
ANDY BARR, Kentucky		     TED LIEU, California
RONNY JACKSON, Texas		     SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania
YOUNG KIM, California		     DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota
MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, Florida	     COLIN ALLRED, Texas
BILL HUIZENGA, Michigan		     ANDY KIM, New Jersey
AUMUA AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN, 	     SARA JACOBS, California
    American Samoa		     KATHY MANNING, North Carolina
FRENCH HILL, Arkansas		     SHEILA CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, 
WARREN DAVIDSON, Ohio			 Florida
JIM BAIRD, Indiana		     GREG STANTON, Arizona
MICHAEL WALTZ, Florida		     MADELEINE DEAN, Pennsylvania
THOMAS KEAN, JR., New Jersey	     JARED MOSKOWITZ, Florida
MICHAEL LAWLER, New York	     JONATHAN JACKSON, Illinois
CORY MILLS, Florida		     SYDNEY KAMLAGER-DOVE, California
RICH McCORMICK, Georgia		     JIM COSTA, California
NATHANIEL MORAN, Texas		     JASON CROW, Colorado
JOHN JAMES, Michigan		     BRAD SCHNEIDER, Illinois
KEITH SELF, Texas


                    Brendan Shields, Staff Director

                    Sophia Lafargue, Staff Director

                            C O N T E N T S

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                                                                   Page

                                  BILL

H. RES. 158......................................................     2

                                APPENDIX

Hearing Notice...................................................    11
Hearing Minutes..................................................    12
Hearing Attendance...............................................    13

                                 VOTES

Votes............................................................    14

                             MARKUP SUMMARY

Markup summary...................................................    15

 
             MARKUP OF: H. RES. 158, RESOLUTION OF INQUIRY
               REQUESTING THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTING THE
              SECRETARY OF DEFENSE AND SECRETARY OF STATE
              TO TRANSMIT, RESPECTIVELY, CERTAIN DOCUMENTS
              TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES RELATING TO
               CONGRESSIONALLY APPROPRIATED FUNDS TO THE
               NATION OF UKRAINE FROM JANUARY 20, 2021 TO

                           FEBRUARY 24, 2023

                         Friday, March 24, 2023

                          House of Representatives,
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs,
                                                    Washington, DC.

    The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:18 a.m., in 
room 210, House Visitor Center, Hon. Michael McCaul (chairman 
of the committee) presiding.
    Chairman McCaul. A quorum being present, the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs will come to order. The committee is meeting 
today for consideration of H. Res. 158, a resolution of inquiry 
requesting the President and directing the Secretary of State 
to transmit. Pursuant to House rules, I request that members 
have the opportunity to submit views for a committee report 
that may be produced on today's measure. Without objection, so 
ordered.
    The chair announces today that any requests for recorded 
votes may be rolled, and he may recess the committee at any 
point without objection, so ordered.
    Pursuant to notice, I now call up H. Res. 158, a resolution 
of inquiry requesting the President and directing the Secretary 
of State to transmit, respectfully, certain documents to the 
House of Representatives relating to congressionally 
appropriated funds to the Nation of Ukraine from January 20th, 
2021 to February 24th, 2023. The measure was circulated in 
advance. The Clerk shall designate the resolution.
    [The Bill H. Res. 158 follows:]

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    The Clerk. H. Res. 158 of inquiry requesting the President 
and directing the Secretary of State----
    Chairman McCaul. Without objection, the first reading is 
dispensed with. The resolution is considered read and open to 
amendment at any point.
    I now recognize myself for an opening statement. One year, 
1 month ago today, Putin launched his full scale, unprovoked 
war of aggression in Ukraine. To date, at least eight thousand 
civilians have been killed, 65,000 war crimes have been 
reported including the abduction of 14,000 Ukrainian children. 
These numbers do not include the staggering loss of life on the 
battlefield.
    In response, Congress has provided a significant amount of 
assistance to Ukraine to ensure Putin's aggression is stopped 
at Ukraine's border, and to ensure NATO countries are not next. 
I have supported this assistance because a victory by Putin in 
Ukraine would further embolden America's adversaries from 
Chairman Xi in Beijing to the Ayatollah in Tehran to Kim Jong-
un in North Korea.
    As the chairman of this committee, it is also my 
constitutionally guaranteed responsibility to pursue stringent 
oversight of the Department of State and USAID. Every dollar 
counts and the Biden Administration should expect this 
committee to be vigilant in demanding transparency and 
accountability for U.S. assistance to Ukraine. In fact, this 
committee has already in the process of conducting vigorous 
oversight of the assistance provided to Ukraine by the 
Department of State.
    Our first committee event of this Congress was a request by 
briefing on oversight of assistance to Ukraine. Also, I led a 
congressional delegation to Kyiv last month to get a first-hand 
perspective of the safeguards and monitoring mechanisms in 
place for U.S. support.
    Next week, I am holding a public hearing with the 
Inspectors General from DoD, State, and USAID to assess the 
Administration's oversight efforts to date. This will be the 
first time any of them have appeared before this committee 
since the full-scale invasion. But I can assure you it will not 
be our last engagement with them on this issue.
    It is unfortunate that some misunderstand strong oversight 
that is somehow at odds with strong U.S. support for Ukraine's 
self-defense against Putin's brutal, illegal invasion. This 
oversight is vital for continued U.S. support and for ensuring 
such support is effective in protecting American security 
interest abroad.
    This resolution of inquiry requests the Administration to 
transmit relevant documents related to congressionally 
appropriated funds for Ukraine. It is important Congress 
continue to closely examine the Biden Administration's failure 
of deterrence leading up to Russia's February 24th, 2022 
invasion. This will ensure that in the future such brutal wars 
of aggression can be deterred by American strength and not 
encouraged by American weakness.
    The American taxpayer deserves to know how this money is 
being spent and I am committed to exercising intense 
congressional oversight on all of our assistance to Ukraine. So 
I support this resolution as it is consistent with my oversight 
agenda of the U.S. assistance to Ukraine.
    Is there any discussion on the resolution? The Ranking 
Member, Mr. Meeks, is recognized.
    Mr. Meeks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I oppose resolution H. 
Res. 158 as we consider this measure today. I have got to tell 
you I cannot help but feel frustrated that here we are again. 
We considered this exact same measure in the last Congress. It 
was at that time divisive and ill-advised, and it remains so 
today.
    And so my message will remain as it was in the 117th 
Congress.
    From day one, Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and long 
before this committee and the entire Congress has remained 
resolutely bipartisan in our support for Ukraine as it fights 
against Russian aggression. This bipartisanship has been 
pivotal to Ukraine's success and its survival. But measures 
like this one put the bipartisanship in jeopardy and send 
absolutely the wrong message.
    As we consider this resolution for the second time, my 
Republican colleagues will try to gloss over what this really 
means. They will claim that his measure is just about 
oversight. It is not. They may claim that it says nothing 
negative about the future of our support for Ukraine, but 
sadly, it does.
    Despite what my GOP colleagues may claim today, this 
resolution is not about transparency or strengthening 
accounting of our support for Ukraine which we all agree is 
important. This resolution is about division. Reporting it out 
favorably is not responsible oversight, and in fact, ignores 
the unprecedented amount of oversight this very committee is 
conducting on a regular basis. This includes the dozens of 
hours of briefings and extensive documentation the 
Administration is providing to us all. This political measure 
is unnecessarily divisive and plays directly into Vladimir 
Putin's hands and we should reject it loudly and in a 
bipartisan manner.
    Acknowledging the unprecedented nature of the aid we are 
providing, the Administration is fulfilling its duty to spend 
every U.S. taxpayer dollar in a transparent and accountable way 
to keep Congress informed at each and every step. Since 
February 2022, the Administration has engaged with members and 
staff on no less than 60, that is 6-0 occasions. Our diplomats 
working in a war zone in Kyiv have gone through painstakingly 
lists to track, to monitor, and evaluate U.S. assistance, 
including by implementing the Administration's October 2022 
strategy to account for all U.S. security assistance and to 
bolster the capability of Ukraine and our allies and partners 
in the region to counter illicit diversion.
    Furthermore, the Administration has provided extensive 
information to the committee on the security assistance and 
weapons provided to Ukraine and methods by which such equipment 
is tracked and accounted for on a regular basis. And I am sure 
the chairman, as when I visited Kyiv and President Zelenskyy in 
the 117th Congress, found that that President Zelenskyy wants 
to make sure that there is accountability of every weapon and 
every dollar and he says that consistently. And that is why he 
is present. He approves and thanks us at every opportunity for 
that assistance because he does not want anything that is 
missing and unaccounted for.
    Meanwhile also, the Administration is cooperating fully and 
openly with a task force of three inspector generals from 
State, DoD, USAID, whose work can amplify and evaluate these 
efforts. At every turn, the departments, agencies, and OIGs, 
have kept this committee and this Congress more broadly and 
appropriately briefed and informed. This was true in the 117th 
Congress and it remains true in the 118th Congress.
    So I ask my colleagues what message does supporting this 
measure, knowing the extreme rhetoric that sponsors have used 
to discuss American assistance to Ukraine, send to the 
Ukrainian people and to Vladimir Putin? Support for this 
resolution ignores the painstaking efforts of the American and 
Ukrainian Government and instead parrots the propaganda of the 
Kremlin.
    So I want to be clear on one thing though. I support robust 
oversight of our assistance to Ukraine and I look forward to 
continuing to work with the Administration and my colleagues on 
the other side of the aisle and the chairman to keep the 
safeguards on our assistance strong.
    Going forward, I urge my Republican colleagues now in the 
majority to embrace responsible oversight and reject partisan 
politics that send out one message that we on this Committee on 
Foreign Affairs support Ukraine and will take meaningful steps 
to ensure our assistance is used properly, effectively, and 
remain committed to giving them the resources they need to win 
and to thrive when this war is over.
    So with that, I oppose this measure and just say let's stop 
the political stunts and let's move forward in a bipartisan way 
in support of Ukraine against Vladimir Putin. And I yield back.
    Chairman McCaul. The gentleman yields. Any further 
discussion on the resolution?
    There being no further discussion of the resolution, the 
committee will move to consideration of amendments. Does any 
member wish to offer an amendment?
    There being no amendments, I move that the committee report 
House Resolution 158 to the House with a favorable 
recommendation.
    All those in favor say aye?
    All those opposed signify by saying no.
    It is the opinion of the chair, even though the ranking 
member was very loud, I would say that the ayes have it and the 
motion is agreed to.
    Mr. Meeks. On that I ask for a recorded vote.
    Chairman McCaul. A roll call vote has been requested. 
Pursuant to the chair's previous announcement, this vote will 
be postponed.
    The committee will--Mr. Cicilline is recognized.
    Mr. Cicilline. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that 
my very eloquent statement be introduced into the record, 
pursuant to our agreement.
    Chairman McCaul. Mr. Perry, do you object?
    Mr. Cicilline. Pursuant to our agreement.
    Chairman McCaul. Without objection, so ordered. The 
committee will recess for about 10 minutes. The Clerk will send 
out notice of when we will reconvene.
    [Recess.]
    Chairman McCaul. The committee will come to order. The 
committee postponed further proceedings on reporting House 
Resolution 158 favorably to the House on which the ayes 
prevailed by voice vote. The question now occurs on reporting 
the measure favorably.
    The Clerk will call the roll and we want to thank our 
financial services members for finally showing up. The Clerk 
will call the roll.
    Mr. Huizenga. Mr. Chairman, a point of information. It is 
difficult saving the economy and saving the world, so we are 
working on it on both committees. We are working on it.
    Mr. Burchett. We want to thank the sergeant-at-arms for 
making the door big enough to get their fat heads through that. 
Thank you. And that is for the record.
    Chairman McCaul. All right, all right.
    Mr. Burchett. That's Burchett with two Ts to all my friends 
in the meeting.
    Chairman McCaul. The gentleman will dismiss. The Clerk will 
call the roll.
    The Clerk. Representative Smith?
    Mr. Smith. Yes.
    The Clerk. Representative Smith votes aye.
    Representative Wilson?
    Mr. Wilson. Aye.
    The Clerk. Wilson votes aye.
    Representative Perry?
    Mr. Perry. Aye.
    The Clerk. Perry votes aye.
    Representative Issa?
    Mr. Issa. Aye.
    The Clerk. Issa votes aye.
    Representative Wagner?
    Mrs. Wagner. Aye.
    The Clerk. Wagner votes aye.
    Representative Mast?
    Mr. Mast. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mast votes aye.
    Representative Buck?
    Buck?
    [No response.]
    Representative Burchett?
    Mr. Burchett. Yes.
    The Clerk. Burchett votes aye.
    Representative Green?
    Mr. Green. Aye.
    The Clerk. Green votes aye.
    Representative Barr?
    Mr. Barr. Aye.
    The Clerk. Barr votes aye.
    Representative Ronny Jackson?
    Mr. Jackson of Texas. Aye.
    The Clerk. Jackson votes aye.
    Representative Young Kim?
    Mrs. Kim of California. Aye.
    The Clerk. Kim votes aye.
    Representative Salazar?
    Ms. Salazar. Aye. Si.
    The Clerk. Salazar votes aye.
    Representative Huizenga?
    Mr. Huizenga. Aye.
    The Clerk. Huizenga votes aye.
    Representative Radewagen?
    Mrs. Radewagen. Aye.
    The Clerk. Ragewagen votes aye.
    Representative Hill?
    Mr. Hill. Aye.
    The Clerk. Representative Hill votes aye.
    Representative Davidson?
    Mr. Davidson. Aye.
    The Clerk. Davidson votes aye.
    Representative Baird?
    Mr. Baird. Aye.
    The Clerk. Baird votes aye.
    Representative Waltz?
    Mr. Waltz. Aye.
    The Clerk. Representative Waltz votes aye.
    Representative Kean?
    Mr. Kean. Aye.
    The Clerk. Kean votes aye.
    Representative Lawler?
    Mr. Lawler. Aye.
    The Clerk. Lawler votes aye.
    Representative Mills?
    Mr. Mills. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mills votes aye.
    Representative McCormick?
    Mr. McCormick. Aye.
    The Clerk. McCormick votes aye.
    Representative Moran?
    Mr. Moran. Aye.
    The Clerk. Moran votes aye.
    Representative James?
    Mr. James. Aye.
    The Clerk. James votes aye.
    Representative Self?
    Mr. Self. Aye.
    The Clerk. Self votes aye.
    Ranking Member Meeks?
    Mr. Meeks. No.
    The Clerk. Meeks votes nay.
    Representative Sherman?
    Sherman?
    [No response.]
    Representative Connolly?
    Mr. Connolly. Nay.
    The Clerk. Connolly votes nay.
    Representative Keating?
    Mr. Keating. Nay.
    The Clerk. Keating votes no.
    Representative Cicilline?
    Mr. Cicilline. No.
    The Clerk. Cicilline votes no.
    Representative Bera?
    Mr. Bera. No.
    The Clerk. Bera votes no.
    Representative Castro?
    Castro?
    [No response.]
    Representative Titus?
    Ms. Titus. No.
    The Clerk. Titus votes no.
    Representative Lieu?
    Mr. Lieu. No.
    The Clerk. Lieu votes no.
    Representative Wild?
    Ms. Wild. No.
    The Clerk. Wild votes no.
    Representative Phillips?
    Mr. Phillips. No.
    The Clerk. Phillips votes no.
    Representative Allred?
    Mr. Allred. No.
    The Clerk. Allred votes no.
    Representative Andy Kim?
    Mr. Kim of New Jersey. No.
    The Clerk. Andy Kim votes no.
    Representative Jacobs?
    Ms. Jacobs. No.
    The Clerk. Jacobs votes no.
    Representative Manning?
    Ms. Manning. No.
    The Clerk. Manning votes no.
    Representative Cherfilus-McCormick?
    Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick. No.
    The Clerk. Cherfilus-McCormick votes no.
    Representative Stanton?
    Mr. Stanton. No.
    The Clerk. Stanton votes no.
    Representative Dean?
    Ms. Dean. No.
    The Clerk. Dean votes no.
    Representative Moskowitz?
    Moskowitz?
    [No response.]
    Representative Jonathan Jackson?
    Mr. Jackson of Illinois. No.
    The Clerk. Jackson votes no.
    Representative Kamlager-Dove?
    Ms. Kamlager-Dove. No.
    The Clerk. Kamlager-Dove votes no.
    Representative Costa?
    Costa?
    [No response.]
    Representative Crow?
    Mr. Crow. No.
    The Clerk. Crow votes no.
    Representative Schneider?
    Mr. Schneider. No.
    The Clerk. Schneider votes no.
    Mr. Chairman?
    Chairman McCaul. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Chairman votes aye.
    Chairman McCaul. Does any member wish to record or change 
his vote?
    The Clerk will report the tally.
    The Clerk. Mr. Chairman, on this vote, the ayes are 26 and 
the noes are 19.
    Chairman McCaul. The ayes have it and the motion is 
agreed----
    The Clerk. Sorry, the noes are 20.
    Chairman McCaul. Still the ayes have it and the motion is 
agreed to.
    This concludes consideration of the measure noticed by the 
committee for today. There being no further business to 
transact, the committee now stands adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 9:56 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]

                                APPENDIX

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                                 VOTES
                                 
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                             MARKUP SUMMARY
                             
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