GAO Declares Trump Action on Ukraine Funds Illegal

By Cliff Montgomery – Jan. 29th, 2020 The biggest politicalmatter in the U.S. at the moment is the impeachment of Donald Trump.Everyone knows that the issue revolves around the Trump Administration’swithholding of funds apportioned by Congress for security assistance toUkraine. But political pundits have been doing what they do best:arguing about everything but the facts of the case. WhatAmericans – and others around the world – really need is a clearstatement of facts, which ignores charge and counter-charge alike. Weat the American Spark find that the best, most easy-to-understandstatement on the matter was released a few weeks ago by the U.S.Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO “is anindependent, non-partisan agency that works for Congress,” declares theAgency’s overview of its mission, which adds that the “congressionalwatchdog … examines how taxpayer dollars are spent and providesCongress and federal agencies with objective, reliable information tohelp the government save money and work more efficiently.” And,as the Agency works for both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, itsjudgment is regularly considered sober and authoritative. It is, infact, the top federal auditor of United States government activities. Thatauthority doesn’t bode well for the Trump Administration and itspotentially impeachable actions. The GAO assessment of the Ukrainematter boldly declares that: “Faithful execution of the law doesnot permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities forthose that Congress has enacted into law. OMB withheld funds for apolicy reason, which is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act(ICA).” The Agency flatly concludes that the Trump Administration violated the law. Below,the Spark quotes the ‘Digest’ and ‘Background’ sections of the GAOassessment. Tomorrow it will publish the ‘Discussion’ portion of thestudy, which investigates – and rejects – the Trump Administration’srationale for its actions. DIGEST “In the summer of2019, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) withheld from obligationfunds appropriated to the Department of Defense (DOD) for securityassistance to Ukraine. In order to withhold the funds, OMB issued aseries of nine apportionment schedules with footnotes that made allunobligated balances unavailable for obligation. “Faithfulexecution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his ownpolicy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law. OMBwithheld funds for a policy reason, which is not permitted under theImpoundment Control Act (ICA). The withholding was not a programmaticdelay. Therefore, we conclude that OMB violated the ICA. […]” BACKGROUND “For fiscal year 2019, Congress appropriated $250 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI). […]” “Thefunds were available ‘to provide assistance, including trainingequipment lethal assistance logistics support, supplies and servicessustainment and intelligence support to the military and nationalsecurity forces of Ukraine.’ ” “The appropriation made the funds available for obligation through September 30, 2019. “DODwas required to notify Congress 15 days in advance of any obligation ofthe USAI funds. […] In order to obligate more than fifty percent ofthe amount appropriated, DOD was also required to certify to Congressthat Ukraine had taken ‘substantial actions’ on ‘defense institutionalreforms.’ ” “On May 23, 2019, DOD provided this certification toCongress … In its certification, DOD included descriptions of itsplanned expenditures, totaling $125 million. “On July 25, 2019,OMB issued the first of nine apportionment schedules with footnoteswithholding USAI funds from obligation. […] This footnote read: ‘Amountsapportioned, but not yet obligated as of the date of thisreapportionment, for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative(Initiative) are not available for obligation until August 5, 2019, toallow for an inter-agency process to determine the best use of suchfunds. Based on OMB’s communication with DOD on July 25, 2019, OMBunderstands from the Department that this brief pause in obligationswill not preclude DOD’s timely execution of the final policy direction.DOD may continue its planning and casework for the Initiative duringthis period.” “On both August 6 and 15, 2019, OMB approvedadditional apportionment actions to extend this ‘pause in obligations,’with footnotes that, except for the dates, were identical to the July25, 2019 apportionment action. “OMB approved additionalapportionment actions on August 20, 27, and 31, 2019 and on September 5,6, and 10, 2019. The footnotes from these additional apportionmentactions were, except for the dates, otherwise [nearly] identical to oneanother. They nevertheless differed from those of July 25 and August 6and 15, 2019, in that they omitted the second sentence that appeared inthe earlier apportionment actions regarding OMB’s understanding that thepause in obligation would not preclude timely obligation. “[For example,] the apportionment schedule issued on August 20 read as follows: ‘Amountsapportioned, but not yet obligated as to the date of thisreapportionment, for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative(Initiative) are not available for obligation until August 26, 2019, toallow for an interagency process to determine the best use of suchfunds. DOD may continue its planning and casework for the Initiativeduring this period.’ “The apportionment schedules issued onAugust 27 and 31, 2019 and on September 5, 6, and 10, 2019 wereidentical except for the dates. “On September 12, 2019, OMBissued an apportionment that removed the footnote that previously madethe USAI funds unavailable for obligation. [… As the GAO reveals inits study, the appropriation only made the funds available forobligation through September 30th, 2019. Congress rescinded andreappropriated the funds prior to that deadline, which appears to havemade the footnote on Ukraine funds a moot issue.] “According toOMB, approximately $214 million of the USAI appropriation was withheldas a result of these footnotes. […] OMB did not transmit a specialmessage proposing to defer or rescind the funds.”