OPINION:
Correction: A previous version of this op-ed misstated the commitment of money being made to Ukraine by Europe.
As a member of Congress, I am being told in real time that if we don’t authorize more money, Ukraine will run out of bullets, that country will fall, and Moldova and Poland will promptly follow.
After two years of such claims, I’ve realized that Europe has all the money it needs to ensure Ukraine’s survival — if only it opened its wallets to the extent it expects America to.
The truth is the United States has delivered more aid to Ukraine than 40 other nations. Since the outbreak of hostility, we’ve spent $113 billion on the war.
The 27 nations making up the European Union, in comparison, have made $101 billion available for Ukraine. Even that figure is misleading, however.
Making money available and actually doling it out are two very different things.
Despite pledging $101 billion to Ukraine, the nations of Europe have delivered only $82 billion of that money, according to the nonpartisan Kiel Institute for the World Economy. That’s because much of the aid made available to Ukraine is spread out over multiple years, which tells us they are not treating this as an urgent need.
Take the $54 billion commitment the European Union pledged to Ukraine in February. That money will be spread out between now and 2027. That $54 billion equals $667 million per year per EU country. This is 100 times less than the $60 billion direct injection of aid that President Biden wants Congress to approve this week.
This imbalance is even more pointed when you take into account that 14 of the EU countries have contributed less to Ukraine than the U.S. in terms of the percentage of their gross domestic product. This is even as the EU has a combined GDP of $20 trillion, compared with just $2 trillion for Russia.
While there’s no doubt that some countries in Europe, such as Germany, are paying a greater share than others, there is also a numbers game being played.
Germany provided Ukraine with 10 obsolete Leopard 1A5 tanks that were over 20 years old. As the cost to repair them was greater than their utility, Ukraine returned them to Germany. However, this still counted toward the total aid Europe gave to Ukraine.
It’s not that the countries of Europe don’t have money. They’re just not choosing to spend it on Ukraine.
Germany spent more than $92 billion on climate change between 2020 and 2023, including on electric buses and on modifying buildings to be carbon-neutral. Over the same period, Italy spent more than $111 billion on climate change, while France spent more than $64 billion.
Europe is asking the United States to foot the bill for the war in Ukraine so it can continue funding its extravagant welfare states and climate change boondoggles, while America’s veterans struggle to get the care they earned and deserve.
America’s government, meanwhile, has already spent $113 billion on Ukraine, and the House has authorized $60 billion more.
We know our money will not be spread out over several years like sand falling through an hourglass. Instead, our hard-earned tax dollars will drop immediately like dirt in the back of a dump truck.
We also know that in six months, Ukraine and the other nations of Europe will be right back in Washington asking us to approve more money. I’m sure they’ll still be using the same argument that the sky is falling over Ukraine.
But if the sky is falling, America should see that Europe injects more money into Ukraine immediately rather than over three years. We should see Europe scrap the electric buses and instead deliver tanks that can be used in Ukraine.
• Rep. Brian Mast represents Florida’s 21st Congressional District.
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