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New Speaker Mike Johnson has proposed focusing on Israel alone, and slashing money for the Internal Revenue Service to pay for it. — The nation’s top military and diplomatic leaders urged an increasingly divided Congress on Tuesday to send immediate aid to Israel and Ukraine, arguing at a Senate hearing that broad support for the assistance would signal U.S. strength to adversaries worldwide. Chuck Schumer, leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, confirmed the vote would begin on Tuesday. The legislation now proceeds to the slight-majority Democrat Senate, which passed a similar measure more than two months ago. The Senate proceedings are expected to begin on Tuesday and President Biden has previously promised to sign the bill swiftly. House Freedom Caucus chair Bob Good, R-Va., told reporters on Friday that although he doesn't defend Johnson's performance as speaker, he thinks it's not in the interest of the Republican Party to go through another speakership fight six months before an election.
New speaker's Israel funding showdown with Biden, Democrats -- and Senate Republicans - ABC News
New speaker's Israel funding showdown with Biden, Democrats -- and Senate Republicans.
Posted: Wed, 01 Nov 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Biden goes backward on permitting reform
In an interview on Fox News on Tuesday, Johnson said he hopes “most if not all” of the Democrats join Republicans in voting for it. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, the top Republican on the Appropriations panel, supports tying the aid to the two countries together. While there is bipartisan support in the Democratic-led Senate for aid to both Ukraine and Israel, the request faces deep problems in the Republican-led House.
House Republicans unveil aid bills for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan as Johnson pushes forward
Although the House’s aid package is similar to the Senate’s previous bill, it makes some minor adjustments. For instance, it adds a provision directing Biden to transfer long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems to Ukraine – a longstanding request from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The package also includes $3.3 billion in submarine industrial base funding as the Columbia and Virginia class programs remain behind schedule.
US Republicans pass ‘extreme’ immigration bill as Title 42 ends
Three liberals, Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Peter Welch of Vermont, as well as Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, also opposed the measure. They said they could not endorse sending more offensive weapons to Israel when the government’s campaign in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of people and created a hunger crisis there. The new effort is the most aggressive yet by legislators to wrest TikTok from its Chinese ownership over national security concerns. They cite the potential for Beijing to demand that TikTok turn over U.S. users’ data or to use the app for propaganda.
US House Republicans' Israel-only aid bill opposed in Senate, by Biden - Reuters
US House Republicans' Israel-only aid bill opposed in Senate, by Biden.
Posted: Tue, 31 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Biden vows to veto House’s stand-alone Israel aid bill
"Make no mistake. What we're seeing today is a profoundly cynical, political maneuver," Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, said in a floor speech before the vote. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that green-lighting supplemental funding doesn’t necessitate rolling back other spending commitments. But Democrats maintained that the supplemental package should not be broken up, and they moved quickly to decry the House Republicans’ offset approach with their legislation. While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has repeatedly stressed the two are interrelated and should move together, there are clear divisions among his own members, four of whom last week introduced a $14.3 billion stand-alone bill seeking to “immediately” boost Israel’s defenses. The move “to package TikTok is definitely unusual, but it could succeed,” said Paul Gallant, a policy analyst for the financial services firm TD Cowen. He added that “it’s a bit of brinkmanship” to try to force an up-or-down vote without further negotiation with the Senate.
“House Republicans are setting a dangerous precedent by suggesting that protecting national security or responding to natural disasters is contingent upon cuts to other programs,” she said. The photograph recalled the scene on the floor of the House on Saturday when Democrats waved miniature Ukrainian flags as they voted for the aid bill. They were rebuked by Mr. Johnson and other Republicans, who called it a violation of decorum and said that only American flags should be displayed in the chamber. “The United States has been and remains a strategic partner that stands shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainian people in our fight against the russian aggressor!
Senate Approves Aid for Ukraine and Israel, Sending It to Biden’s Desk
Johnson made the announcement in an afternoon letter to colleagues while criticizing the impending Senate legislation that would pair Israel aid with funding for Ukraine and a package of tougher border security and asylum laws. House Republicans released a $14.3 billion stand-alone bill Monday dedicated solely to aiding Israel, decoupling it from aid for Ukraine and border security as the White House had proposed in its own emergency funding request earlier this month. But the vast majority of senators in both parties supported the legislation, and Senate leaders regarded its passage as a triumph, particularly given the opposition to aid for Ukraine that had built up in the House.
How much will go to Ukraine?
The House bill would provide $9.7 billion to replenish various missile and defense systems in Israel. It would allow the country to quickly obtain advanced weapons systems and other defense services through the Foreign Military Financing Program and would enhance the production of artillery munitions. Adding urgency to the issue, Biden vowed last month to use emergency authorities to “shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed” if Congress passes the bipartisan immigration plan, largely putting the onus on the House GOP majority to accept the Senate deal. The move gives Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans the chance to show support for Israel even though there is little chance the Senate will go along. Meanwhile, text of a broader Senate compromise is expected to be released this weekend and a key test vote on that package will be held during the week. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said he wants to start voting next week on the broader supplemental and immigration bill, with text expected to be released on Sunday.
Republicans have a narrow majority in the House, but Biden's fellow Democrats control the Senate. To become law, the bill would have to pass both the House and Senate and be signed by Biden. Trump himself has suggested that Biden’s border bill is a political “trap” laid for Republicans ahead of November.
“It is very notable that 112 Republicans voted ‘no’ for different reasons,” Culhane said. Among the Democrats who voted against the bill was Representative Ilhan Omar, who has been an outspoken critic of the US’s role in the war on Gaza. Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane said the Democrats who voted against the bill on Israel were very vocal in their criticism of the Israeli prime minister. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense thanked the US House for its “rock solid” support for Taiwan after the bill passed. "Look, history judges us for what we do," he said, adding, "This is a critical time right now critical time on the world stage. I could make a you know I can make a selfish decision and do something that that's different. But I'm doing here what I believe to be the right thing."
An earlier House-passed bill would have given the parent company six months to sell TikTok, less than the current one. The House of Representatives has voted to pass a $95 billion foreign aid package that includes funding to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. House Republicans’ surprise announcement to send the Senate a stand-alone Israel funding bill sets up dueling votes in both chambers, which remain apart on how to fund border security and Ukraine in divided government. The president could extend the deadline by another 90 days if progress toward a sale was being made. The president noted that the foreign aid package also provides $1 billion of additional humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, which he said would allow the U.S. to send food, medical supplies and clean water to the region.
CIA Director Bill Burns said Thursday that Ukraine could likely hold its ground if Congress passes another aid package for Kyiv but warned “the picture is a lot more dire” without one. But increased Republican resistance to Ukraine aid from former President Donald Trump and others, as well as growing skepticism to unconditional Israel assistance from some Democrats, prompted Johnson to split the package up into multiple votes. His decision to advance the package infuriated the ultraconservatives in his conference who accused Mr. Johnson of reneging on his promise not to allow a vote on foreign aid without first securing sweeping policy concessions on the southern border. It prompted two Republicans, Representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona to join a bid by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to oust Mr. Johnson from the top job. But after the Senate passed its own $95 billion emergency aid legislation for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan without any immigration measures, Mr. Johnson began — first privately, then loudly — telling allies that he would ensure the U.S. would send aid to Kyiv. In four back-to-back votes, overwhelming bipartisan coalitions of lawmakers approved fresh rounds of funding for the three U.S. allies, as well as another bill meant to sweeten the deal for conservatives that could result in a nationwide ban of TikTok.
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