Johnson signals he won’t put Senate supplemental on the floor despite increased pressure

[Pelican Press 0]

Johnson signals he won’t put Senate supplemental on the floor despite increased pressure

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Sunday did not indicate that he would put the Senate-passed supplemental package on foreign aid on the floor this week, despite mounting pressure from Democrats and some GOP lawmakers to do so after

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During an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Johnson noted that House members were pulling together details for a new package.

“We’re going to try again this week, and the details of that package are being put together right now,” he said. “We’re looking at the options and all these supplemental issues.”

The

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days after Johnson was elected speaker in October. The package, which paired $14.3 billion in aid to ******* with cuts to IRS funding, was deemed ***** on arrival in the Democratic-led Senate and

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vowed to veto it.

Then, in February, the House ******* to pass a stand-alone ******* aid bill without those IRS cuts, 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 for Ukraine, ******* and Taiwan, but Johnson rejected the deal after ******** a bipartisan effort in the Senate to address security at the U.S.-Mexico border. And, under pressure from GOP hard-liners who have warned him that tying Ukraine aid to the bill could prove detrimental to his speakership, Johnson has

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months later.

On Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that the “best” way to help ******* was to “pass the supplemental this week.”

“I’ve called on Speaker Johnson to do that,” he added during a New York City press conference after a phone call between Biden and the four congressional leaders, including Johnson. “There was a consensus on the phone among all the leaders that we had to help ******* and help Ukraine, and now hopefully we can work that out and get this done next week.”

Asked on Sunday whether he is considering

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, Johnson touted his

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, saying that they are “100% ******* on these big agenda items.”

“When you talk about aid to Ukraine, he’s introduced the loan lease concept, which is a really important one, I think, has a lot of consensus,” he said, adding that seizing the assets of a “corrupt Russian oligarchy” to help fund Ukrainian resistance is also among the ideas he thinks can reach consensus.

“And that’s what we’ve been working through,” he said. “We’ll send our package, we’ll put something together and send it to the Senate and get these obligations complete.”

Senate ********* Leader Mitch McConnell, R-***., on Saturday urged Congress to pass the supplemental military aid package that has been held up for months. McConnell said the U.S. must stand with ******* after Iran launched retaliatory attacks against the country in response to the ******** ******** of its consular building in Syria that ******* two of Tehran’s top military leaders.

“We cannot hope to deter conflict without demonstrating resolve and investing seriously in ********* strength. The Commander-in-Chief and the Congress must discharge our fundamental duties without delay,” he said of the package that ties aid to Ukraine and *******. “The consequences of ******** are clear, devastating, and avoidable.”

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, on Sunday said he expects the House to pass the long-stalled supplemental military aid package for Ukraine, ******* and Taiwan this week with “overwhelming support.”

“Ukraine is beginning to lose the ability to defend itself and the ******* States must step up and provide Ukraine the weapons that they need,” he said during an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

“I think we’re going to see overwhelming support for that in the House this week,” he added.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he hopes the U.S. could provide aid to Ukraine and fund security at the border at the same time.

“I for one am prepared to help Ukraine, but I want to see us deal with the southern border. And that was the negotiation, that was the talk, that was the agreement. That’s what was going to happen and it didn’t happen,” he said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “What they came up with was unacceptable when it came to the border, but I remain a supporter of helping Ukraine. But I’m a big supporter and even ******* supporter of helping America as an ********* senator. And so I hope those two things can happen.”

Johnson, who has vowed the passage of new Ukraine aid, has

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. GOP hard-liners like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., have criticized Johnson, arguing that funding would be better allocated elsewhere.

Greene, who

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but has not acted on a vote to remove him, has argued that Congress should turn its attention and allocate funding to the southern border instead of Ukraine.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, on Sunday contended that Trump has “tremendous influence” over the GOP conference and thinks that Johnson went to Mar-a-Lago to speak with the presumptive *********** presidential nominee about the Ukraine aid package and to get him to agree that a loan program for direct government assistance would be “acceptable.”

“Remember the first lethal aid package that ever went to Ukraine, that I signed off on, $300 million, came from the Trump administration,” McCaul said during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “They don’t want to see us lose in Ukraine like we did in Afghanistan. The repercussions are long term — a weaker America, not stronger. I don’t think Trump wants to own that. I think he wants to help us get to the point where he gets in and he can finish the job.”

Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, who wrote an

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detailing his opposition to Biden’s pitch to congressional Republicans to pass the supplemental aid package, argued that passing it in its current form would weaken *******’s defense in its war against ******.

“I think we should focus — I think ******* is a much closer ally, is a much more core ********* national security interest,” he said during a Sunday interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And of course we got to focus on ourselves. That means encouraging the Ukrainians to take a defensive strategy.”

“This is really important, because you’re gonna hear a lot of calls across Washington, D.C., that we now have to pass the supplemental,” he added. “But if we pass the Ukraine and ******* supplemental and send a ton of weapons to Ukraine that the Israelis need, we’re actually weakening ******* in the name of helping them.”

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