U.S. spending on the war in Ukraine has been frequently quoted, sometimes incorrectly, by conservatives wishing to steer America's foreign policy away from Kyiv.
While Congress has approved $113 billion in funding toward supporting the country in its war with Russia that began on February 24, 2022, analysis says the actual amount may total more along the lines of $77 billion.
Bold claims about the cost of the war continue to make their way into the conversation, including on Joe Rogan's Spotify podcast in which he claimed that $6.2 billion had been sent "accidentally" to Ukraine.
The Claim
A tweet by YouTuber Jackson Hinkle, posted on July 19, 2023, viewed 115,000 times, included a video from the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast in which the host claimed that the U.S. "accidentally" sent $6.2 billion to Ukraine.
Rogan said: "They sent an extra... how many billion dollars did they accidentally send?"
A voice in the background can be heard saying "Six point two."
Rogan continued: "$6.2 billion was an accident, they accidentally...yeh six point two more than they were supposed to. So why don't they just send some more?"
Rogan and guest Duncan Trussell joked about sending the money back. Trussell later said: "You just blew $6 billion of tax money and it was a mistake?"
Rogan added: "It's very wild that they just keep printing money. Jacking up the inflation, printing money."
The accompanying tweet by Hinkle read: "'The Pentagon accidentally sent $6.2 BILLION to Ukraine! It's wild how they just keep printing money, jacking inflation. We're gonna keep sending them money forever and ever.' - Joe Rogan."
The Facts
Since 2021, the U.S. has been providing defense items for Ukraine through the use of Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) by which the president can authorize the immediate transfer of articles and services from U.S. stocks, up to a funding cap established by law.
According to a June 2023 Congressional Research Service report, since August 2021, the Biden administration has authorized 40 drawdowns valued at $22.1 billion.
This, crucially, is where Rogan has misunderstood the facts.
In June 2023, the Pentagon said that it had overestimated the value of weapons sent to Ukraine by $6.2 billion over the past two fiscal years authorized through PDA, according to U.S. Department of Defense press secretary Sabrina Singh.
Singh told reporters that in "a significant number of cases, services used replacement costs rather than net book value, thereby overestimating the value of the equipment drawn down from U.S. stocks and provided to Ukraine.
"Once we discovered this misvaluation, the comptroller reissued guidance on March 31 clarifying how to value equipment in line with the financial management regulation and DOD policy to ensure we use the most accurate of accounting methods.
"We have confirmed that for F.Y. [Fiscal Year] '23 the final calculation is $3.6 billion and for F.Y. '22 it is $2.6 billion, for a combined total of $6.2 billion."
This is distinct from how Rogan and Trussell described it, saying the money was "accidentally" sent to Ukraine. Rather, the cost of sending some equipment authorized through PDA was overestimated. What that means is that the amount that was not spent can be allocated to other PDAs in the future.
As Singh told reporters: "It's another pot of money that we have access to, so when we have our next presidential drawdown package to roll out, it's not like we're going to have, like, allocated here, this is $6 billion that we, you know, have found through our reevaluation.
"It's just going to go back into the pot of money that we have allocated for the PDAs, and we will roll out the next package when we have that announcement."
To Rogan's credit, during his show he brought up an article about the allocation misestimation, parts of which he quotes but then returns to talking about "printing money."
In any case, as is clear from reporting and the details of the matter, $6.2 billion was not sent by accident, but that an accounting error meant that amount was not spent and can now be used for future packages.
Newsweek has reached out to Rogan's publicist and a media representative for the Department of Defense for comment.
The Ruling
False
The U.S. did not accidentally send $6.2 billion to Ukraine. An overestimation of the cost of some military hardware meant that $6.2 billion was not spent in the transfer of U.S. stocks to Ukraine.
While the DOD has said that this can now be used toward future stock drawdowns authorized by the president, that does not mean $6.2 billion has been sent accidentally, and all that implies, to Ukraine.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
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