Bipartisan members introduce foreign aid and narrow border package in the House
By Lauren Fox, CNN
(CNN) — A small group of bipartisan House lawmakers has unveiled their own plan to send aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and crack down on illegal crossings at the southern border, an effort to put additional pressure on Speaker Mike Johnson to act on Ukraine aid even as House lawmakers recess until the end of the month.
Despite the Senate passing a bipartisan bill that provided $95 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan earlier this week, Johnson has signaled he won’t bring that bill to the floor in the House as he faces pressure from his right flank not to act on Ukraine aid.
It’s not clear that the new bill will break through in a chamber where there has been growing conservative resistance to voting on more aid to Ukraine and likely liberal opposition to some of the immigration provisions included in the bill.
The plan, which was authored by 10 members including Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Maine Democrat Rep. Jared Golden, would provide more than $66 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but would not provide the same humanitarian aid included in the Senate bill.
The legislation would also restore the so-called “Remain in Mexico” policy, which requires individuals seeking asylum to return to Mexico until their case is ready for court in the US.
“Securing one’s borders is necessary to preserve one’s democracy and therefore necessary to maintaining world order and world peace,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement. “But we also have an obligation to assist our allies in securing their borders, especially when they come under assault by dictators, terrorists and totalitarians.”
Fitzpatrick told CNN that Republicans who authored the bill plan will discuss their legislation with Johnson in the days ahead.
But defense hawks in the House and many members running in swing districts in November have warned that they don’t want House Republicans to be the reason Ukraine aid fails.
“In the end, I don’t want it to be Republicans’ legacy that Ukraine fell. Period,” Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska, told CNN last week. “We’ve been playing nice talking about the border and trying to link this, but that didn’t work. Now, we are going to be more forceful and forthright that Ukraine is in our national security interest.”
There are few options remaining to get Ukraine aid on the floor, something that the White House has said for months is essential to ensuring that the country doesn’t lose its battle against Russia in the months ahead.
If Johnson won’t put the legislation on the floor, Democrats could try to convince a handful of Republicans to sign what is known as a discharge petition, an arcane and seldomly used device that would force a vote on Ukraine aid if a majority of the House signs on. It’s not clear that Republicans – even a handful – would be willing to buck their leadership and force that vote.
The odds of getting Ukraine aid out of the House has been made even more difficult by the fact that the front-runner to win the GOP nomination for president, Donald Trump, has made clear he’s opposed to the Senate-passed bill.
“WE SHOULD NEVER GIVE MONEY ANYMORE WITHOUT THE HOPE OF A PAYBACK, OR WITHOUT ‘STRINGS’ ATTACHED. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA SHOULD BE ‘STUPID’ NO LONGER!” Trump posted Saturday on Truth Social.
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