Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will successfully stare down the America First wing of the Republican party by leaning on Democrats to pass the supplemental foreign aid bills.
The bills include a whopping $95 billion in aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, including some measures to lessen the burden on the American taxpayers to pay these foreign nations, reported The Hill.
Among the chaos, Democrats didn’t believe the GOP would fund the Ukraine effort, to which Johnson compromised, forcefully saying, “Yes!” President Joe Biden supports the series of foreign aid bills that will bury America into further debt and deficit.
The Hill reported that the House will vote on Saturday. The Senate is anticipated to produce one out of the five bills — likely for Ukraine — that will pass the House and onto the president for signing.
Johnson was supposed to be the opposite of “RINO” former Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., but now he appears to be a mirrored image. He has been threatened with a motion to vacate by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., who is seemingly doing it for her usual antics. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has also threatened the same, but of course, with a more serious tenor.
The Speaker hasn’t had it all too bad, as former President Donald Trump told him in Mar-a-Lago last week that he “stand[s] with the Speaker.”
According to The Hill, “moderate” Republicans are now praising Johnson for putting his foot down against possible motions to vacate. Ironically, all these “moderates” seem to have the backing of AIPAC — the Israel Lobby.
Alex Conant, formerly of Sen. Marco Rubio’s, R-Fla., 2016 failed presidential campaign, said to The Hill, “You get to a point where you can’t let yourself be held hostage by a fringe wing.”
“The vast majority of Republicans don’t want to surrender Ukraine and support giving our allies what they need,” added the GOP strategist. Note: he never mentions the constituency — only the politicians in the party supporting the foreign aid bills.
The aid that Trump said was a conditional loan to Ukraine is $61 billion. That is a small piece of the total since the original invasion by Russia in February 2022.
According to recent polling, Republicans are more skeptical of providing aid to their European brothers rather than their alleged “Greatest Ally” in the Middle East. Still, aid to Israel is seen as going against Trump’s “America First” nationalism, as public awareness about the failed prolonged entanglements in Iraq and Afghanistan continues to grow.
Ironically, Johnson called himself a “wartime Speaker” during a CNN interview on Wednesday. He told Jake Tapper that the GOP is “going to stand for freedom and make sure Vladimir Putin doesn’t march through Europe.”
In that same interview, he suggested he may change the rules around the motion to vacate, requiring more than a single rep to initiate. Perhaps this is a safeguard to his position. Any rule change, though, would require a majority in the House, which the GOP does not have.
Speaker Mike Johnson claimed on Newsmax that he could not include border funding in the $95 billion supplemental aid package to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.
Where do his priorities lie if they don’t with America?pic.twitter.com/6wiJkZRhA2
— Brian J. Pfail (@brian_pfail) April 19, 2024
Congress Calls for Immediate Vote on $95 Billion Foreign Aid Bill
Still, many Republicans are frustrated by his attempt to separate the aid into different bills, which has essentially killed any chance at border security enactments. One of the Speaker’s five bills includes that, but the Senate is likely to ignore it, reported The Hill.
