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Johnson’s statement came after he and other House leaders helped scuttle an earlier version of the bill that included sweeping border security measures and other reforms.
The Senate voted on the bill Monday night, and final passage is expected within the next 30 hours, depending on how long the bill’s Republican opponents continue to delay progress with protests.
The aid package has been long-awaited by the White House, which requested funding in October shortly after Israel was attacked by Hamas. Republicans, including Mr. Johnson, had demanded a border security deal in exchange for their votes, but abandoned a bipartisan border deal announced earlier this month over opposition from former President Donald Trump.
Johnson said the Senate “should have gone back to the drawing board to amend the current bill to include real border security provisions that would actually help end this ongoing disaster.”
Funding for Ukraine has become unpopular among Republican voters, and President Trump said at a recent rally that he believes the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member is not spending enough on its defense. He said he would encourage countries to do “whatever Russia wants.”
But if the Senate passes the bill, efforts are underway to bypass Johnson and pass it through a Democratic-led removal petition. Democrats would need to collect at least four signatures from Republicans who support funding for Ukraine before they can file a petition, which likely won’t happen until the end of this month given the Congressional calendar. Some Democratic lawmakers have criticized the Israeli government’s response to the war in the Gaza Strip, where most homes have been destroyed or damaged, more than 12,300 children have been killed, and a quarter of the population has died. That path will remain difficult in the House, given the opposition of the House of Commons. According to the United Nations, they are starving. Enough Republicans would need to support the bill to compensate for Democrats who won’t vote for it because of their support for Israel.
The bill, brought to the floor through an expulsion petition that would require the support of 218 members, comes as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and others demand that Johnson be removed as speaker. It would avoid Mr Johnson having his fingerprints on further proposals. If he puts the Ukraine funding bill to a vote in the House of Representatives.
The national security law includes $60 billion for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel, plus more than $9 billion in humanitarian assistance to Gaza, Ukraine and other countries, and $5 billion for Indo-Pacific allies including Taiwan. It also includes spending close to $100,000 and a ban on U.S. military action. Funds from the law will go to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which operates in Gaza and the West Bank, following allegations that some of its staff were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack.
The Pentagon said Ukraine urgently needs this aid and is at risk of running out of ammunition as it continues to fend off a Russian invasion that began in 2022.
The vote came as President Trump has made opposition to NATO part of his campaign message. President Trump told presidents of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries at a rally on Saturday that they “will not defend” their countries if Russia attacks because Russia does not spend enough on defense. Stated. “In fact, I recommend that [Russia] I’ll do whatever they want,” Trump reportedly told the unidentified president.
Trump is at the center of the debate over the aid package in Congress, as some Republicans echoed his opposition to aid to Ukraine and later abandoned the border deal they had sought after saying they didn’t like him. presence is fading. Republican senators are sharply divided on how to proceed with the aid package, with some critics saying Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is trying to steer Republican senators into a political box. In doing so, Democrats have asserted their political advantage in border security. Republicans withdrew from the border deal, which was approved by the generally Republican-leaning Border Patrol.
“Why did Republicans stab their voters in the back?” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) asked on the Senate floor Monday, referring to his decision to vote in favor of the package without securing the southern border. did. (Mr. Vance, like nearly every Republican, voted against the border security portion last week.)
A vocal faction of Mr. McConnell’s critics has grown louder in recent days, as Senate Republicans gather in meeting after meeting to discuss the uncomfortable political situation they find themselves in. There are also growing calls for it. “There’s definitely more opposition to foreign involvement in the Senate now than there has been in the past,” McConnell said in an interview with The Washington Post last week. But he said he would “work passionately” to force a resolution to the politically polarizing issue.
Marianna Sotomayor contributed to this report.
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