It’s budget and appropriations season. The spending bills that fund government are one of the only legislative trains (almost) guaranteed to make it out of the Capitol Hill station each year. As such they can often attract all kinds of unseemly passengers. In recent years, however, emergency express trains, err, supplemental spending bills, in response to COVID-19, natural disasters, and foreign conflicts, have risen in frequency and size. Lawmakers need to ensure the legislative locomotives currently boarding in Washington are loaded with the right cargo and going where needed most.

On Track 1, Congress is conducting budget request oversight hearings. We’ll call that the local train; it’s $1.6 Trillion, stopping at every tiny crossroads and station and will eventually get to its destination, significantly late. In other words, it will get there after the beginning of the next fiscal year.

On Track 2, is the Biden Administration’s recent $33 billion emergency supplemental appropriations request for Ukraine. This is the express train; it’s like the high-speed Acela; it may even be one of those fancy Mag-Lev trains that moves much faster because of reduced friction.

Finally, the latest COVID-19 supplemental is idling at the station. After six departures totaling more than $5 trillion, demand for this is mixed. The president has reiterated a desire for more COVID-19 assistance. It may be another COVID-19 package ends up being attached as a supplement to the Ukraine supplemental.

These supplemental spending requests are high and likely to rise. This should concern taxpayers because Washington has a tough enough time overseeing the underlying budget. And “emergency” supplemental bills lend themselves to even less oversight. Taxpayers need Washington to watchdog these dollars and do better budgeting where needed.

When we say high, how high do we mean? Well, just the latest request for Ukraine is $33 billion. We’ve written about more of the details, but in brief it’s broken down this way:

• Department of Defense — $16.4 billion with $11.4 billion going to “Critical Defense Capabilities and Equipment for Ukraine, including Replenishment of DOD Stocks.”
• Department of State and USAID — $14.1 billion. It includes, among other things, $1.6 billion in Food Security and Humanitarian Assistance. Some amount of these funds will not be spent directly in Ukraine and may not be spent for some time.
• Department of the Treasury — $650 million for work through “international financial institutions to support Ukraine and other countries impacted by the crisis.” This includes a $150 million contribution to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program that was created by the G20 after the 2007-2008 food crisis. The remaining $500 million is a contribution to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
• Department of Health and Human Services — $1.2 billion to support Ukrainians entering this country.
• Department of Justice — $67 million in support of the KleptoCapture Task Force.
• Department of Agriculture — $620 million. The bulk of the funds, $500 million, is for subsidies to US farmers to encourage increased production of wheat, edible oilseeds including soybeans, and rice. Ukraine and Russia are both significant producers of wheat and exports from the countries have been severely hampered.

At Taxpayers for Common Sense, we agree the situation in Ukraine is dire as they struggle to counter this war of Russian aggression. Helping Ukraine now may stave off a larger (and ultimately more expensive in lives and money) Russian attack in Central Europe. But we’re budget watchdogs. We’re here to draw attention to how your tax dollars are being spent and to argue for greater oversight of where the money is going. So, we’re concerned that tens of billions of dollars are flowing to the Ukrainian economy when its own government is in extremis and has a reduced capacity to manage proper distribution of the funds. The 2020 Gross Domestic Product of Ukraine was $155.6 billion. Pushing tens of billions of dollars through a relatively small economy will require skilled management to avoid waste and fraud. And humanitarian aid to countries, such as many in central Africa and the Middle East, now cutoff from their primary source of grain imports seems critical. But even here lawmakers must ensure the aid is directed where it’s needed and in a way that is effective.

Americans are generous. We come together in times of need. When able, we also must identify and plan for those needs. We have big hearts, but cannot afford soft heads.  The conflict in Ukraine, continued diligence against COVD-19, and a need to prepare for natural disasters are seemingly here to stay. There are emergency needs. But as lawmakers assemble this year’s spending bills, they should be clear eyed about what we are going to spend. Emergency supplementals should be limited and rare. When managing our tax dollars lawmakers need to plan ahead.