House Speaker Mike Johnson did not indicate on Sunday whether he would drop the Senate-passed foreign aid package this week, despite growing pressure from Democrats and some GOP lawmakers to do so. Iran’s retaliation against Israel.
During an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Johnson noted that members of the House of Representatives are putting together details for a new package.
“We will try again this week and the details of that package are currently being put together,” he said. “We’re looking at options and all these additional issues.”
The The House first passed the GOP-led support package for Israel Days after Johnson was elected speaker in October. The package, which combines $14.3 billion in aid to Israel with cuts to IRS funding, was considered dead when it reached the Democratic-led Senate, with President Joe Biden vowing to veto it.
Then, in February, the House failed to pass an Israel aid bill on its own without an IRS cut, with many Republicans voting with Democrats to defeat the effort.
That same month, the Senate passed a $95 billion national security package that included aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but Johnson rejected the deal after killing a bipartisan effort in the Senate to address security on the US-Mexico border. And under pressure from GOP hardliners who warned him that locking up the Ukraine aid bill could hurt his presidency, Johnson yet war city to address aid to the country months later.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters on Sunday that the “best” way to help Israel “is to pass the amendment this week.”
“I urged Speaker Johnson to do it,” he added at a news conference in New York after a phone call between four congressional leaders, including Biden and Johnson. “There was a consensus on the phone between all the leaders that we should help Israel and Ukraine, and now we hope we can resolve that and do it next week.”
He asked if she was thinking about Sunday former President Donald Trump’s idea to convert Ukrainian aid into loansJohnson did his damn thing Meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on FridaySaying that they are “100% unanimous on these big agenda issues”.
“When talking about aid to Ukraine, he introduced the concept of lend-lease, which I think is a really important consensus,” he said. The Ukrainian resistance is among the ideas that he thinks can come to a consensus.
“And that’s what we’re working on,” he said. “We’re going to send our package, put something together and send it to the Senate and fulfill those obligations.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Saturday urged Congress to pass an additional military aid package that has been on hold for months. McConnell said the United States should stand by Israel after Iran retaliated against Iran for bombing its consulate in Syria and killing two of Tehran’s top military leaders.
“We cannot hope to avoid conflict without showing resolve and investing heavily in American power. “The Commander-in-Chief and Congress must fulfill our primary responsibilities without delay,” he said of the aid package for Ukraine and Israel. “The consequences of failure are clear, devastating and preventable.”
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, said Sunday he expects the House to pass a long-delayed supplemental military aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan this week with “overwhelming support.”
“Ukraine is starting to lose its ability to defend itself, and the United States needs to step in and give Ukraine the weapons it needs,” he said in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
“I think we’re going to see a lot of support for that in the House this week,” he said.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he hopes the United States can provide aid to Ukraine and fund border security at the same time.
“I am ready to help Ukraine, but I want to see that we deal with the southern border. This was a negotiation, a conversation, an agreement. It was going to happen, and it didn’t happen,” he said. “What they came up with at the border was unacceptable, but I remain in favor of helping Ukraine. But I’m a big supporter of helping America as an American senator, and I’m an even bigger supporter. And so I hope that this two things can happen.”
There is Johnson, who has promised that new aid will go to Ukraine controlled by members of a weak Republican majority. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. GOP hardliners like him criticized Johnson, arguing that the funding would be better allocated elsewhere.
Greene, who He filed a “motion to vacate” to remove Johnson from office however, he did not act in the vote to remove him from office, arguing that Congress should focus on the southern border, not Ukraine.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, claimed Sunday that Trump “has a lot of influence” at the GOP conference and thinks Johnson is headed to Mar-a-Lago to talk to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee about the Ukraine aid package. and to force him to agree that a loan program would be “acceptable” for direct government assistance.
“Remember the first lethal aid package that went to Ukraine, the $300 million that I signed came from the Trump administration,” McCaul said in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “They don’t want to see us lose in Ukraine like we did in Afghanistan. The consequences are long-term—a weaker America, not a stronger one. I don’t think Trump wants to have it. I think he wants to help us get to the point where he can come in and get the job done.
Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, wrote In an article published in The New York Times Detailing Biden’s opposition to congressional Republicans passing an additional aid package, he argued that passing it in its current form would weaken Israel’s defenses in its war against Hamas.
“I think we have to focus — I think Israel is a closer ally, a more fundamental part of America’s national security interest,” he said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “And of course we have to take care of ourselves. This means encouraging Ukrainians to buy a defense strategy.”
“It’s really important because you’re going to hear a lot of calls in Washington that we have to pass the annexation now,” he said. “But if we bypass Ukraine and Israel in addition and send a ton of weapons to Ukraine that the Israelis need, we will actually weaken Israel in the name of helping them.”