On September 15, 2026, the State Department notified Congress that it intended to transfer $52.1 million in Foreign Military Financing, most of it appropriated by the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2022, to programs in Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Peru. The two top Democrats on the foreign affairs committees, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Rep. Gregory Meeks, placed a hold on it. Section 505(d) of that law allows the funds to be transferred only for use “to respond to the situation in Ukraine and in countries impacted by the situation in Ukraine,” and the two said the department confirmed the four countries “have not provided meaningful security assistance to Ukraine or other European allies and partners impacted by Russia's war in Ukraine.”
Late on September 30, the administration told Congress it was disregarding the hold and proceeding, The Washington Post reported, citing U.S. officials; the money had been approved for Slovakia, North Macedonia, Tunisia and Iraq. The State Department told the Post, “Reprogramming funds from the Middle East and Europe to the Western Hemisphere is consistent with the National Security Strategy,” and said the money would go toward “combating narco-terrorism in our hemisphere” and the security of the Panama Canal. In their letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Shaheen and Meeks wrote, “We will consider a breach of this hold and the transfer of funds to violate statutory requirements and to have consequences for the Department's relationship with our committees.”
The Telegraph's headline said the money had been meant for NATO countries; two of the four, Slovakia and North Macedonia, are NATO members. That the transfer actually went through rests on the Post's officials; it has not been independently confirmed.