OMB defends 'appropriate action' to hold Ukraine aid
The White House budget office defended its temporary hold on Ukraine as an "appropriate action" in a letter to a congressional watchdog agency, saying the Pentagon was allowed to decide how to allocate funds while a review was underway. The Office of Management and Budget's General Counsel Mark Paoletta wrote to the Government Accountability Office in defense of the hold on Wednesday evening as the House prepares to vote next week on impeaching President Trump for withholding the aid. Paoletta wrote in the nine-page letter, obtained by the Washington Examiner, that the office believes its action was lawful and proper. A "footnote" was placed July 25 on the majority of a $250 million allocation of aid passed by Congress, the letter said. The language, issued the same day as Trump requested investigation of Democrats in a conversation with Ukraine's president, authorized continued work to decide on how to spend the aid.
The prohibition stated, according to the letter: "Amounts apportioned, but not yet obligated as of the date of this reapportionment, for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (Initiative) are not available for obligation until August 5, 2019, to allow for an interagency process to determine the best use of such funds. Based on 0MB's communication with DOD on July 25, 2019, 0MB understands from the Department that this brief pause in obligations will not preclude POP'S timely execution of the final policy direction. DOD may continue its planning and casework for the Initiative during this period." Paoletta wrote that "the action of adding the footnote to the apportionment made approximately $214 million in unobligated [Ukraine aid] funds legally unavailable for obligation, but still permitted DOD to engage in any needed activities up to the point of obligation. Each time this temporary pause in obligations was extended, 0MB emphasized (in either the apportionment footnote itself or in subsequent conversations with DOD) that the apportionment would permit DOD to engage in all of the activities short of actual obligation that were necessary to ensure that, following a policy decision."
The apportionment footnote was removed on Sept. 12, ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline to allocate the funds. Some of Trump's defenders argue that the release of aid moots questions about Trump's motive. Paoletta's letter does not specifically address the reasons for review, but said a "policy process" was performed. "It was 0MB's understanding that a brief period was needed, prior to the funds expiring, to engage in a policy process regarding those funds," Paoletta wrote. "0MB took appropriate action, in light of a pending policy process, to ensure that funds were not obligated prematurely in a manner that could conflict with the President's foreign policy.''
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