[House Report 118-44]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


118th Congress  }                                              {    Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session    }                                              {   118-44

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

 
  REQUESTING THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTING THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE TO 
 TRANSMIT, RESPECTIVELY, TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COPIES OF ALL 
     DOCUMENTS INDICATING ANY PLANS FOR CURRENT OR FUTURE MILITARY 
   ASSISTANCE TO UKRAINE AND DOCUMENTS INDICATING WHETHER ANY UNITED 
STATES ARMED FORCES, INCLUDING SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES, ARE CURRENTLY 
                          DEPLOYED IN UKRAINE

                                _______
                                

 May 2, 2023.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

   Mr. McCaul, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, submitted the 
                               following

                              R E P O R T

                             together with

                            DISSENTING VIEWS

                       [To accompany H. Res. 300]

    The Committee on Foreign Affairs, to whom was referred the 
resolution (H. Res. 300) requesting the President and directing 
the Secretary of Defense to transmit, respectively, to the 
House of Representatives copies of all documents indicating any 
plans for current or future military assistance to Ukraine and 
documents indicating whether any United States Armed Forces, 
including special operations forces, are currently deployed in 
Ukraine, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon 
without amendment and recommends that the resolution be agreed 
to.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page
Summary..........................................................     2
Background.......................................................     2
Committee Consideration and Vote.................................     4
Oversight Findings and Recommendations...........................     4
New Budget Authority, Tax Expenditures, and Federal Mandates.....     4
Directed Rule Making.............................................     4
Non-Duplication of Federal Programs..............................     4
Performance Goals and Objectives.................................     4
Congressional Accountability Act.................................     4
New Advisory Committees..........................................     4
Earmark Identification...........................................     5
Section-by-Section Analysis......................................     5
Dissenting Views.................................................     6

                                SUMMARY

    House Resolution 300 requests the President, and directs 
the Secretary of Defense to transmit, respectively, to the 
House of Representatives, not later than 14 days after the date 
of the adoption of this resolution, copies of all documents in 
the possession of the President or the Secretary of Defense, 
respectively, indicating any plans for current or future 
military assistance to Ukraine and documents indicating whether 
any United States Armed Forces, including special operations 
forces, are currently deployed in Ukraine.

                               BACKGROUND

    According to House rules and precedents, House Resolution 
300 qualifies for consideration as a resolution of inquiry. 
Although the resolution does not have the requisite cosponsors 
typically required for committee action under Committee rules 
(25 cosponsors, including 10 committee members), clause 7 of 
rule XIII of the Rules of the House requires the Committee to 
act on resolutions of inquiry within 14 legislative days.
    The Committee is committed to--and is in the process of--
conducting vigorous oversight of the congressionally-
appropriated security, humanitarian, and economic assistance to 
Ukraine being provided by the Department of State and United 
States Agency for International Development (USAID). It is 
unfortunate that this resolution was drafted and introduced 
without regard for the robust oversight already underway. It is 
also unfortunate that some misunderstand strong oversight as 
somehow at odds with strong U.S. support for Ukraine's self-
defense against Vladimir Putin's brutal, illegal invasion. To 
the contrary, such oversight is critical for maintaining strong 
U.S. support, and for ensuring that such support is effective.
    The Committee is advancing transparency and accountability 
not only to fulfill its constitutionally mandated 
responsibility to conduct oversight of our constituents' 
taxpayer dollars, but also to sustain U.S. and allied support 
for Ukraine. The American people have a right to know how U.S. 
assistance responding to Russia's war in Ukraine is being 
spent, and how the safeguards in place are ensuring that there 
is no fraud, waste, or misuse involving American taxpayer 
money.
    The Committee's first classified briefing of the 118th 
Congress with the Biden Administration was on Russia's 
unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine. The Chairman then 
led a Congressional Delegation to Poland and Ukraine from 
February 19-23 of this year to receive a firsthand perspective 
of how U.S. assistance to Ukraine is being used to support a 
Ukrainian victory as soon as possible. The delegation met with 
the 101st Airborne Division, USAID's Disaster Assistance 
Response Team in Poland, Embassy Kyiv staff, and President 
Zelenskyy in Ukraine, to deepen its understanding of the 
transparency and accountability mechanisms the U.S. has in 
place to track U.S. weapon systems sent to the frontlines, and 
to ensure that our non-security assistance reaches its intended 
beneficiaries. The delegation was encouraged to learn that, to 
date, no significant acts of fraud or misuse involving U.S. 
assistance have occurred.
    The Subcommittee on Europe's first official activity of the 
118th Congress was a briefing with State Department and USAID 
officials on the transparency and accountability safeguards in 
place for U.S. aid to Ukraine. The briefing focused on U.S. 
humanitarian and economic assistance, particularly the 
accountability mechanisms and planned audits for the $22.9 
billion in direct budget support, as well as U.S. diplomatic 
efforts to encourage greater assistance to Ukraine from U.S. 
allies and partners.
    On March 29, the Committee held a hearing with the 
inspectors general from the Department of Defense, Department 
of State, and USAID to hear their assessments of the 
transparency and accountability mechanisms the Administration 
has put in place for U.S. assistance to Ukraine. In this 
hearing, Members also discussed the inspectors' general Joint 
Strategic Oversight Plan for monitoring, tracking, and 
accounting for the totality of assistance provided to Ukraine. 
This was the first time any of the inspectors general have 
appeared publicly before this Committee since the beginning of 
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. 
Importantly, each inspectors general reported there had been no 
significant misuse of U.S. assistance to date.
    Likewise, Committee staff have organized biweekly briefings 
with Administration officials to discuss updates on the war and 
U.S. support for Ukraine. Committee staff have also requested 
briefings from the Department of State and USAID on each 
advance notification of how the Administration plans to spend 
U.S. government-provided assistance to ensure that every dollar 
of American taxpayer funding directly contributes to Ukraine's 
war effort and that the relevant oversight mechanisms are 
functioning.
    Finally, Committee staff actively review the reporting 
requirements and the implementation of oversight mandated by 
the approximately 40 oversight provisions across the four 
Ukraine supplementals and Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations and 
defense policy bills. These provisions include requirements to 
report to Congress on every U.S. weapon sent to Ukraine, and 
the accountability mechanisms in place to ensure these systems 
are used as intended.
    Moreover, the small U.S. military presence in Ukraine, 
along with providing embassy security, is critical to the U.S. 
defense attach's efforts to monitor the U.S. weapons provided 
to Ukraine. To be clear, U.S. forces are not fighting Russia's 
forces. Instead, they are on the frontlines of U.S. oversight 
efforts.
    However, the Administration continues to fail to answer 
critical questions about the end goal for U.S. assistance to 
Ukraine. A pledge to ``support Ukraine for as long as it 
takes'' is, unfortunately, not a strategy. Moreover, the 
Committee remains frustrated by the Administration's opaque and 
constantly changing rationales for refusing to provide Ukraine 
with critical weapon systems, such as ATACMS, which would help 
Ukraine win the war quickly and avert a bloody stalemate which 
will benefit Vladimir Putin and ultimately cost taxpayers more.
    The Foreign Affairs Committee is dedicated to pursuing 
clarity on all of these issues to ensure that U.S. assistance 
is funding a sound strategy, and to maintain robust 
Congressional oversight. House Resolution 300 is consistent 
with that aim.

                    COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION AND VOTE

    On April 26, 2023, the committee marked up House Resolution 
300 pursuant to notice, in open session. The committee agreed 
to a motion to report the resolution favorably to the House by 
a record vote of 22 ayes to 20 noes.
    On the vote to report H. Res. 300 to the House favorably:
    Voting aye (22): McCaul, Smith, Issa, Wagner, Mast, Buck, 
Burchett, Green, Barr, R. Jackson (TX), Y. Kim (CA), Huizenga, 
Hill, Davidson, Baird, Kean, Lawler, Mills, McCormick, Moran, 
James, Self.
    Voting no (20): Meeks, Sherman, Keating, Cicilline, Bera, 
Castro, Titus, Wild, Phillips, Allred, A. Kim (NJ), Jacobs, 
Manning, Cherfilus-McCormick, Stanton, Dean, Moskowitz, J. 
Jackson (IL), Costa, Crow.

                 OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

    In compliance with clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII of the rules 
of the House of Representatives, the Committee reports that the 
findings and recommendations of the Committee, based on 
oversight activities under clause 2(b)(1) of rule X of the 
House of Representatives, are incorporated in the 
``Background'' section of this report, above.

      NEW BUDGET AUTHORITY, TAX EXPENDITURES, AND FEDERAL MANDATES

    Clause 3(c)(2) of House rule XIII and the Unfunded Mandates 
Reform Act (Public Law 104-4) are inapplicable because House 
Resolution 300 does not provide new budget authority or 
increased tax expenditures.

                          DIRECTED RULE MAKING

    Pursuant to clause 3(c)(5) of House rule XIII, the 
committee notes that House Resolution 300 contains no directed 
rule-making provisions.

                  NON-DUPLICATION OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS

    Clause 3(c)(5) of House rule XIII is not applicable to this 
resolution, as it is not a bill or joint resolution that 
establishes or reauthorizes a federal program.

                    PERFORMANCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

    Clause 3(c)(4) of House rule XIII is not applicable to this 
resolution, as it is not a measure that authorizes funding.

                    CONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY ACT

    House Resolution 300 does not apply to terms and conditions 
of employment or to access to public services or accommodations 
within the legislative branch.

                        NEW ADVISORY COMMITTEES

    House Resolution 300 does not establish or authorize any 
new advisory committees.

                         EARMARK IDENTIFICATION

    House Resolution 300 contains no congressional earmarks, 
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as described 
in clauses 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of House rule XXI.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

    The resolution is comprised of a single clause identifying 
materials being requested from the President and the Secretary 
of State.

                            DISSENTING VIEWS

    In a political effort to grandstand and malign the Biden 
Administration's support for Ukraine against Russia's brutal 
and unprovoked invasion, the sponsors of H. Res. 300 are 
jeopardizing our national security, that of our European allies 
and Ukrainian military partners, as well as millions of 
Ukrainian civilians. Legislatively mandating the public 
disclosure of all current and future U.S. military plans in 
support of Ukraine's military is the height of irresponsibility 
shrouded in a reckless and misguided abuse of legislative 
prerogative.
    The House Foreign Affairs Committee has consistently 
spearheaded thorough and responsible oversight of 
Congressionally appropriated security assistance to Ukraine. 
Likewise, the Administration is proactively providing regular 
briefings, documentation, and justifications for assistance to 
Ukraine to the committees of jurisdiction--and to the entire 
Congress--to facilitate Congress' legislative and oversight 
responsibilities. The Department of State, Department of 
Defense, and U.S. Agency for International Development have 
provided advance notification and detailed breakdowns of how 
American taxpayer funding would be spent ahead of each and 
every tranche of U.S. government-provided assistance.
    On dozens of occasions, the Administration has briefed 
Members of Congress on all manner of detail regarding ongoing 
and planned security assistance to Ukraine. In addition, the 
Departments of Defense and State have consistently provided 
Congressional Committees scores of documents and detailed 
records on the types of security assistance, weapons, and 
military hardware delivered to Ukraine including quantities, 
variants, and delivery timelines since early 2022. All these 
materials are available to members as are details on U.S. 
personnel in Ukraine. To the extent possible and when feasible, 
such assistance is described publicly by Administration 
officials and released in writing.
    The Departments of Defense and State, via the U.S. Embassy 
in Kyiv, conduct thorough oversight and end-use monitoring 
(EUM) to account for security assistance provided to Ukraine. 
To ensure further safeguards are in place, in October 2022 the 
Administration established an interagency plan to counter any 
potential illicit diversion of weapons. This effort focuses on 
strengthening the ability of Ukrainian and neighboring country 
forces to account for and safeguard arms and ammunitions during 
transfer, storage, and deployment. On top of these efforts, the 
Office of the Defense Attache and Office of Defense Cooperation 
(Ukraine) have conducted multiple EUM visits in Ukraine in both 
central and austere storage and field locations to cross-check 
U.S. records of items provided with items in Ukraine's 
possession. Since early 2022 Ukrainian forces continue to use a 
variety of tools to track and share comprehensive inventory 
details with DoD.
    In addition to the Administration's own ongoing efforts on 
monitoring and accountability, Inspectors General overseeing 
the Departments of Defense and State have established a joint 
oversight and investigative effort to monitor, track, and 
account for the totality of assistance provided to Ukraine--
including military support--as well as assess for themselves 
the established safeguards on such assistance. The leaders of 
the integrated Inspectors General effort have kept Congress 
regularly apprised of their work and findings, including as 
recently as March 2023 in public testimony before this 
Committee. In that testimony and accompanying report, the 
Inspectors General concluded that they ``have not yet 
substantiated significant waste, fraud, or abuse'' of U.S. 
assistance to Ukraine. Committee Democrats remain firmly in 
favor of these rigorous and unprecedented oversight efforts as 
U.S. assistance continues to be provided to Ukraine in 
furtherance of our shared national security objectives against 
Russia's brutal, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
    The sponsors of this resolution, however, have elected to 
ignore the many opportunities made available to participate in 
constructive and regular Congressional oversight of the Biden 
Administration's effort to support Ukraine and instead have 
launched a political exercise that risks endangering our 
ongoing military efforts and those of our courageous Ukrainian 
partners. We already know the sponsor's calloused intent--made 
clear a few weeks ago by his `Ukraine Fatigue' resolution 
calling for an end to all U.S. assistance to the country. By 
attempting to legislatively force the disclosure of all current 
and future U.S. military plans in support of Ukraine's defense 
against Russia's brutal onslaught--including sensitive details 
on the presence of U.S. personnel in Ukraine--the sponsors of 
this measure play directly into Putin's hands and jeopardize 
the very lives of those with whom we are standing. Passage of 
this measure would represent a gift to Putin and his Kremlin 
cronies and provide them visibility into future plans that our 
military and intelligence leaders strive to protect at all 
costs. Such details would be welcomed throughout the Russian 
military and security services in the furtherance of their 
genocidal campaign against the Ukrainian people and undermine 
critical ongoing U.S.--Ukrainian military cooperation.
    While Committee Democrats remain steadfast and committed to 
robust military support for Ukraine in defense of its citizens 
and democracy--as well as associated oversight and transparency 
efforts--H. Res. 300 is a condemnable partisan political ploy 
and the height of legislative irresponsibility that jeopardizes 
the national security of the United States, of our European 
allies and partners, as well as the courageous Ukrainian 
people.
            Sincerely,
                                          Gregory W. Meeks,
                                                    Ranking Member.