在众议院外交事务委员会周三的听证会上关于对乌克兰的援助在美国，立法者花了几个小时询问监督这三个政府机构的最高监管机构最直接参与分配美国支持的数十亿美元这个饱受战争蹂躏的国家，不断得到相同的答案:
到目前为止，没有证据表明支持被滥用。
尽管保守派批评拜登政府对这些资金缺乏监管——众议院议长凯文·麦卡锡在中期选举前承诺，不应再有“空白支票”——但委员会中的大多数共和党人试图在支持乌克兰和承诺监控之间找到平衡。
“要明确的是，我不进行这种疏忽削弱或质疑支持乌克兰的重要性相反，监督应该激励政府和乌克兰以最高的效率和效力使用来自国会的资金，”得克萨斯州共和党主席迈克尔·麦克考尔说。
但该委员会的最高民主党人、纽约州众议员格雷戈里·米克斯(Gregory Meeks)提醒众议院，他称之为“MAGA Republicans”的议员断言基辅已经获得了太多的回旋余地，称他们的评论正中俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京的下怀。
其他人，如加州民主党众议员特德·刘(Ted Lieu)走得更远，质疑举行听证会是否会为俄罗斯的虚假信息活动提供素材。
“我认为我们应该讨论更重要的问题，比如我们如何确保其他国家不会向俄罗斯提供额外的援助?我们如何确保乌克兰拥有赢得这场战争所需的远程武器?”刘说。
2022年4月27日，康涅狄格州东莱姆的斯通牧场军事保留地，一名民用卡车司机将一辆M113装甲运兵车固定在一辆平板拖车上。这款M113是国防部向乌克兰提供的200辆装甲运兵车之一，作为美国总统拜登签署的8亿美元乌克兰安全援助一揽子计划的一部分。
美国陆军
在他们的证词中，负责国务院和美国国际开发署的代理监察长以及监督国防部的监察长分别解释了他们如何寻求建立一个对乌克兰援助使用情况的完整账户，并建立必要的反腐败控制。
但目击者也承认冲突带来了独特的挑战。
“我们正以战争的速度进行监督，”监视国防部的罗伯特·斯托奇说。
听证会上最有争议的一些时刻与离家更近的问题有关，宾夕法尼亚州众议员斯科特·佩里(Scott Perry)等共和党人敦促证人解释为什么拜登政府间接为一些乌克兰人的养老金买单，而不是支持国内权益或保护美国与墨西哥的边境。
“你能向我们保证，那些被送往这个星球上最腐败的国家之一的钱不会被滥用、浪费或丢失吗?”佩里追问。“你能给美国人民什么保证?”
“议员先生，我已经证实，根据我们已经完成的工作，我们没有证实任何转移美国安全的情况，”斯托奇回答说。
尽管如此，目击者承认他们的工作尚未完成，随着时间的推移，这些发现可能会发生变化。
共和党人多次提到去阿富汗党内至少有一名议员建议成立一个办公室专门监督对乌克兰的援助，就像国会在2008年为阿富汗重建所做的那样。
虽然证人没有对这种前景发表看法，但他们表示，国会的额外拨款可能会推动他们自己的监督工作。
国务院副监察长戴安娜·肖(Diana Shaw)说，“坦率地说，我们的人正在两端燃烧蜡烛，以满足我们所拥有的广泛授权，这是因为他们深深地、亲自地致力于这项任务，”她还主张她的办公室在美国驻乌克兰大使馆外开展更大的活动。
GOP-led hearing on aid to Ukraine finds no evidence, so far, of misuse
During a Wednesday hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committeeon aid to Ukraine, lawmakers spent hours questioning the top watchdogs overseeing the three government agenciesmost directly involved in distributing billions of dollars in American supportto the war-torn country, repeatedly arriving at the same answer:
So far, there is no evidence that support has been misused.
Although conservatives have criticized the Biden administration for what they called a lack of oversight over the funds -- with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy pledging before the midterms that there should no longer be a "blank check" -- most Republicans on the panel sought to balance support for Ukraine with a commitment to surveillance.
"To be clear, I do not conduct this oversightto undermine or question the importance of support for Ukraine, but rather -- to the contrary -- oversight should incentivize the administration and Ukraine to use funds from Congress with the highest degree of efficiency and effectiveness," said Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas.
But New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, the committee's top Democrat, reminded the chamber of comments from lawmakers he called "MAGA Republicans" who assert that Kyiv has been given too much leeway, saying their comments play right into Russian President Vladimir Putin's hands.
Others -- like Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif. -- went further, questioning if even holding the hearing would provide fodder for Russian disinformation campaigns.
"I think we should talk about more important issues, like how do we make sure other countries don't give additional assistance to Russia? How do we make sure Ukraine has the long-range weapons they need to win this war?" Lieu said.
During their testimonies, the acting inspectors general covering the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development as well as the inspector general overseeing the Department of Defense each explained how the sought to create a full account of how aid to Ukraine was used and install necessary controls against corruption.
But the witnesses also acknowledged the unique challenge posed by the conflict.
"We're doing oversight at the speed of war," said Robert Storch, who monitors the Department of Defense.
Some of the hearing's most contentious moments were tied to issues that hit closer to home, with Republicans like Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania pushing the witnesses on why the Biden administration was indirectly footing the bill for some Ukrainians' pensions rather than shoring up domestic entitlements or securing the U.S. border with Mexico.
"Can you give us assurance that none of that money that's being sent to arguably one of the most, if not the most, corrupt country on the planet is being misused, misspent, lost?" Perry pressed. "What assurance can you give the American people?”
"What I've testified to, congressman, is that based on our completed work, we have not substantiated any instances of diversion of U.S. security," Storch answered.
Still, the witnesses acknowledged that their work wasn't finished and that those findings could change as time marches on.
Republicans made multiple referencesto Afghanistan, with at least one lawmaker in the party suggesting that an office be created specifically to monitor aid to Ukraine, just as Congress did for the reconstruction of Afghanistan in 2008.
While the witnesses didn't weigh in on that prospect, they said their own oversight efforts could be boosted with additional financing from Congress.
"Our folks are, frankly, burning the candle at both ends to meet the extensive mandate that we have and it's because they are deeply, personally committed to the mission that they do that," said the deputy inspector general for the State Department, Diana Shaw, who also advocated for her office to have a larger footprint operating out of the American embassy in Ukraine.
