Looks like Republican Speaker Mike Johnson will not allow consideration of the foreign aid bill until border security is addressed.
On Wednesday, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson shut down the $95 billion foreign aid package recently passed by the Senate.
Johnson remained steadfast in his, and most of his party’s, belief that no bill that doesn’t include funding to solve the crisis at the southern border should be considered by the House.
“The Republican-led House will not be jammed or forced into passing a foreign aid bill that was opposed by most Republican senators and does nothing to secure our own border,” he said. “It’s time for Washington to start showing some love for Americans.”
“On Valentine’s Day, it’s a good day to point this out,” he continued. “We need to listen to the American people and their needs and take action, and that’s why House leadership will continue to govern with Americans’ interests at heart.”
Democrats had been trying to gin up support for a discharge petition, which would have allowed them to bypass Johnson and force a vote, however progressives, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, said they would not sign on, citing the bill’s funding for Israel.
The foreign aid package, which dedicates funding to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, passed with a 70-29 vote as 22 Republicans joined their Democratic colleagues to side in favor of the bill.
Johnson made it clear even before the votes had been tallied that he had no intention of letting the bill enter his chamber.
While I’m not opposed to Ukraine aid in general, clearly the border is a far more pressing concern, but the Biden Administrations seems to want to throw open the borders at all costs. They need to pay the price for that decision, including no foreign aid being passed. Indeed, there’s a strong case to be made that with the towering Biden deficits and giant mountain of national debt, no foreign aid should be authorized until the budget is balanced. We also seem to get a very poor return for our foreign aid dollar. The Marshall Plan was over three-quarters of a century ago, and the Cold War ended over three decades ago.
Moreover, Speaker Johnson’s position (controlling borders is far more important than shipping billions in foreign aid abroad) is one that’s extraordinarily popular with American voters from all walks of life. Make the globalist foreign policy establishment suffer for the Biden Administration’s illegal refusal to enforce border control laws, no matter how hard the lefty MSM rages.
Foreign aid is a luxury. Protecting the border is an enumerated responsibility of the federal government.
Tags: Border Controls, Budget, Democrats, foreign aid, Foreign Policy, Mike Johnson, Military, Republicans
The proposed foreign aid will putatively be used to bolster military preparedness of the three recipients. At issue is how and to what degree their military will be used to enforce the political decision as to how many foreign nationals may come within their territories and under what circumstances.
These United States are no less deserving of protection than our allies wish to enjoy. Given that US citizens furnish tax money that buys military equipment, their concerns should be prioritized. It really is that simple
An argument can be made that we benefit from having military alliances with well-equipped armies and should make every effort to see that they receive favorable treatment in any arms deals. This generosity depends on our ability to sell from our surplus. There will be less of a surplus for military spending if funds have to be reallocated in order that the unvetted hordes poring across our open borders may receive food and shelter an any similar considerations.
Make military preparedness possible by staunching the flow of alien invaders. It is the principal duty of our armed forces.
They will do anything not to close the border. Letting in the rest of the world is their #1 priority. What more evidence do you need? This isn’t about political jockeying. This isn’t even about Ukraine or Russia anymore. Just read about what Mitch McConnell put in the senate bill.
The entire fucking US government is working for everyone except the American people. There is no debate. We are being attacked, and all the Dems and half the GOP are allied with the invaders. Rekindle your friendships and arm yourselves.
The fact that these assholes won’t act to secure the borders, and that all these mid-level bureaucrats are enabling the gross violations all along the border?
Clear signs that the lot of them need to be tried for treason, and then summarily executed. There is going to be a Mumbai/October 7th event sometime in the near future, and it’s being prepared right in front of our eyes. When it happens, remember what these assholes of the elite did, and conduct yourself accordingly.
By rights, most of these “representative government members” ought to be lynched or eaten in a cannibal feast when they return to their districts. That they haven’t been, already? Signs that the average American voter is too stupid to live. Certainly, too stupid to be a citizen in a representational republic…
1) Agreement with Meatwood Flack above.
2) If you want to see the Left and its Republican auxiliaries go crazy, insert a clause in ANY foreign aid bill that would pay for bringing white South African refugees fleeing racial persecution to the the US.
Subotai Bahadur
Never mind “white South Africans”, just see what happens if you insert any language implying that immigrants ought to be able to support themselves and be a net gain to the nation…
That idea is anathema. They want subservient clients. Witness the joy displayed by those women “welcoming illegal immigrants” to their homes, and promptly putting them to work as household servants. That’s what they want… Cheap labor. Never mind the rest of the accompanying issues.
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With an evenly divided House that will not stand. In fact Speaker Johnson will soon be gone thanks to the Dems and a few RINOs & Squishes.
“Never mind “white South Africans”, just see what happens if you insert any language implying that immigrants ought to be able to support themselves and be a net gain to the nation…”
I am pretty sure that is the law already (something about not being a “public burden”) for legal immigration. But that apparently does not apply to illegals.
I predict Johnson will fold as he’s in AIPAC’s pocket. He’s garnered a fortune from them since he ascended to speaker.
No additional funding is needed to close the border, nor is legislation. What is needed is the will to do it, which the Left will never have. They feel that they are so close to having total control, forever, that to give in now would seem tantamount to suicide for them. The House should, at least, put a chokehold on any spending bills just as a matter of principle, but I have a feeling that the crisis at the border will be solved, or forced, at the State level, not by the Feds.
It’s a nonsense position from a Speaker who has no real national security chops and has poor leadership ability.
1. Most of the R’s in House & Senate want the bill passed. Johnson is fighting against his own party.
2. Any immigration/border bills will be undone after the election
3. If Dems give Johnson what he wants, it becomes a non issue at the election AND R’s look many times weaker than D’s on border and national security issues.
4. The fluff has no great political benefit other than pressuring some R nominee races in primaries. Dem’s hold too many seats in Senate. It would never become law, Johnson knows it. Risks Trump/MAGA R’s could being framed as “do nothings” or more destructive than effective in November. This has already brought down a good number of Trump endorsements.
5. Does not appeal to any needed voting block, in fact drives many of them away. Independents tend to support reformists but usually vote against obstructionists. Dems framed R’s as gumming up reform in ’96, 2006, 2018, 2020 successfully. Johnson doing most of the lef work for them in 2024.
I had Mike Johnson pegged as the next sell-out Republican but so far have been wrong.
I suspect this is ultimately the goal, but why does anyone need a federal government is not to protect the borders? The few things one might point to are quite vulnerable when you do not have a border.
“ Johnson is fighting against his own party.”
You say that as though it is a bad thing. Leadership has a transcendent quality. A few stout-hearted men can rally a routed force. The weak and ineffectual Republican Party is in desperate need of well defined goals and persistent pushback against the prevailing tide of progressive malevolence.
For too long Republicans have been good losers, accepting defeat as a necessary condition of being considered to be within the bounds of social convention. Their fear of seeming to be intransigent reactionaries makes preemptive surrender their go-to strategy.
This broad accommodationism must end.
We have had enough of practical men who seek only to merit their enemy’s approval. Practical men are those who repeat the mistakes of their past. It is well past time for conservatives to break from their defeatist heritage.
Pick a hill on which to die and defend it against all opposition. The borders must be maintained against foreign trespass by any and all available means. It is to Mike Johnson’s credit that he recognizes this and is willing to fight for its realization.
Fight and the troops will rally; surrender and your party will die.
While I’m not opposed to Ukraine aid in general, clearly the border is a far more pressing concern, but the Biden Administrations seems to want to throw open the borders at all costs.
permit me to resolve the apparent contradiction.
Biden desires neither American nor Ukrainian nor European security. POSIWID. He desired to hand parts of Ukraine over to Putin, who overreached and went for the whole enchilada (elsewhere, I have offered the example of Biden preferring, Ukraine to Russia on a silver platter). Biden has slow walked American aid and obstructed foreign aid to Ukraine, and has no wish for a swift victory for Ukraine, if any.
The reason is that he wishes to preserve his original deal. Putin gets Donbas or whatever, Biden gets… It’s hard to understand, but one reasonable explanation would be that there would be Russian cooperation to deal with Iran. since the entire platform of the Democrats is to submit to Iran, hard to understand why we need Russian help, but of course they are very stupid.
Now, Biden has had to provide some aid to Ukraine, because when Putin kicked off the SMO, Europe screamed as one. Biden had to run to the head of the pack and pretend to be leading the parade. As I say, he’s obstructed as much as he can. Now, he has the spectacle of some Republicans begging and pleading to take the liability for the loss of Ukraine from his shoulders onto theirs and their party’s. It’s like the scene in Blazing Saddles where Cleavon Little holds his pistol to his own head and pretends to be holding himself hostage. Give us border security or we will hold Ukraine at risk! Let’s just say that Biden finds that their proposal is acceptable.