The State Department is shifting U.S. military financing previously designated for Slovakia, North Macedonia, Tunisia and Iraq to Panama, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, advancing the Trump administration’s Western Hemisphere security strategy despite objections from senior congressional Democrats.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom

The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to redirect $52.1 million in U.S. Foreign Military Financing from European and Middle Eastern partners to four Latin American countries, escalating a dispute with congressional Democrats over how money originally appropriated largely in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may legally be used.

The State Department notified Congress Sept. 15 that funding previously intended for Slovakia, North Macedonia, Tunisia and Iraq would instead support security programs in Panama, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. The administration subsequently informed lawmakers that it intended to proceed despite objections from the ranking Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees, according to The Washington Post.

Foreign Military Financing, commonly known as FMF, provides grants and loans that foreign governments can use to purchase U.S. defense equipment, services and training. The administration says moving the money reflects President Donald Trump’s decision to make security in the Western Hemisphere a higher U.S. foreign-policy priority.

“Reprogramming money away from [the] Middle East and Europe to the Western Hemisphere is consistent with the National Security Strategy,” the State Department told the Post. “The funds used in our region will combat narco-terrorism in our hemisphere and help continue to secure the Panama Canal.”

The department has also said the financing will strengthen U.S. security partnerships and help prevent foreign adversaries from establishing strategic positions in the region. That rationale tracks with the administration’s 2025 National Security Strategy, which places the Western Hemisphere first in its regional priorities and says the United States will seek to prevent non-Hemispheric competitors from controlling strategically important assets or establishing threatening capabilities in the Americas.

The shift follows a recent trip by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, three of the four governments designated to receive the redirected financing. The administration has been seeking expanded cooperation with regional governments on narcotics trafficking, migration and other security issues. The Pentagon has separately increased surveillance and counternarcotics activity in Latin America.

Panama has received particular attention because of the administration’s focus on the Panama Canal and concerns about the influence of strategic competitors in and around critical infrastructure. The State Department has described maintaining security around the canal as one purpose of the reprogrammed assistance.

The funding change, however, has produced a dispute with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Shaheen and Meeks placed a congressional hold on the transfer after receiving the Sept. 15 notification. They argue that most of the money comes from the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act enacted in May 2022 and is legally restricted to purposes connected to Ukraine and countries affected by Russia’s invasion.

In a Sept. 30 letter to Rubio, the lawmakers challenged the State Department’s authority to send those funds to Latin America.

“The Executive Branch does not have unlimited discretion to redirect these funds toward unrelated Administration policy priorities or countries,” Shaheen and Meeks wrote.

The lawmakers cited Section 505(d) of the 2022 supplemental appropriations law. That provision says funds under several accounts, including the Foreign Military Financing Program, may be transferred and merged with funds under those headings “to respond to the situation in Ukraine and in countries impacted by the situation in Ukraine.” The statute also requires prior consultation with congressional appropriations committees when the transfer authorities are exercised.

Shaheen and Meeks said administration officials did not adequately explain during congressional briefings how transferring funding from Europe and Eurasia to Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Peru would satisfy that statutory language.

“We are deeply concerned that the Department has failed to justify how this decision complies with the law,” the lawmakers wrote. “We urge you to utilize the funds for the purpose required by Congress.”

They also formally reiterated that their hold remained in effect, warning Rubio that they would consider proceeding with the transfer despite it to be a violation of statutory requirements and an action that could affect the department’s relationship with the two committees.

The administration disputes the broader premise that the money should remain concentrated in Europe and the Middle East and has argued that security threats closer to the United States justify reallocating resources.

The legal disagreement centers partly on the distinction between Congress’ appropriations power and the executive branch’s authority to administer foreign assistance within statutory limits. Shaheen and Meeks maintain that the Ukraine supplemental placed a specific restriction on how the relevant funds can be reprogrammed. The State Department is proceeding on the position that the transfer is permissible and advances current U.S. national-security priorities. No court has ruled on that dispute.

The original 2022 law was enacted shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and provided billions of dollars in military, humanitarian and economic assistance for Ukraine and countries affected by the conflict. Its Foreign Military Financing provisions were intended in part to help Ukraine and partners respond to the security consequences of the war.

Slovakia and North Macedonia, two of the countries losing portions of the financing under the current reprogramming, are NATO members. Tunisia and Iraq are longstanding U.S. security partners in North Africa and the Middle East. Reporting on the September notification indicated those governments could continue receiving other U.S. assistance even after the $52.1 million is redirected.

The Latin American recipients have become increasingly important to the administration’s security strategy. Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are major partners in counternarcotics operations, while Panama occupies a strategically significant position connecting the Atlantic and Pacific through the Panama Canal.

Trump has also made combating drug cartels a national-security priority. An executive order issued shortly after he returned to office characterized major cartels and other transnational organizations as threats to U.S. national security and foreign policy, laying the foundation for a more aggressive federal response throughout the Western Hemisphere.

The $52.1 million transfer is relatively small compared with overall U.S. military and foreign-assistance spending, but the dispute carries broader significance because it illustrates the administration’s effort to shift resources toward Latin America while reducing the priority assigned to some programs in Europe and other regions.

The National Security Strategy explicitly describes that approach as a decision to prioritize finite U.S. resources rather than treat every region as equally important. Its Western Hemisphere section calls for restoring what the administration describes as American preeminence in the region and limiting the strategic influence of outside powers.

Shaheen and Meeks are challenging not the administration’s ability to make Latin America a higher policy priority, but whether it can use this particular pool of congressionally appropriated money to do so.

The State Department, meanwhile, is pressing ahead with the reprogramming on the grounds that the funds can more effectively advance current U.S. security interests by supporting governments confronting narcotics trafficking, protecting strategic infrastructure such as the Panama Canal and limiting the influence of U.S. competitors.

The result is a $52.1 million funding shift that has become part of a larger struggle between Congress and the executive branch over control of foreign assistance — and a visible example of Trump’s effort to redirect American security attention and resources toward the Western Hemisphere.

Original article