Questioning American Spending in Ukraine? A Perspective.

By William MacKenzie
Oregon writer

$20 Billion: The U.S. commitment of military aid to Ukraine under President Biden “to help Ukraine preserve its territorial integrity, secure its borders, and improve interoperability with NATO.”

Source: Washington Post, Nov. 27, 2022

$942.6 – $960.4 Billion: What Americans are expected to spend this 2022 holiday season (excluding auto dealers, gas stations and restaurant purchases)

Source: National Retail Federation

$768 Billion: The amount the U.S. spent on national defense activities in FY2022.

Source: Congressional Budget Office

$420 Billion: Amount of the federal budget that provided benefits to veterans and former career employees of the federal government, both civilian and military, in FY2022, which ended on Sept. 30, 2022.

Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

$399 Billion: Total interest payments the federal government made on the money it borrowed to finance the net federal debt in FY2022.

Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

$220 Billion: What Qatar has spent on the World Cup.

Source: Forbes

$80 Billion: Money allocated to the Internal Revenue Service under the Inflation Reduction Act to enhance its operations.

Source: Forbes

$18.9 Billion: Money appropriated in FY2022 for 5,138 Congressional earmarks, up from $15.9 billion in FY2021.

Source: 2022 Congressional Pig Book, Citizens Against Government Waste

$4.8 Billion: The amount candidates, party committees, leadership PACs and joint fundraising committees spent on the 2022 midterm elections as of Oct. 19, 2022.  Campaigns spent almost $1 billion on digital ads alone.

Source: OpenSecrets