Posted on 04/15/2024 6:37:09 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
At a closed-door meeting of the House Republican Conference Monday, Speaker Mike Johnson committed to putting the stalled $96 billion foreign aid bill for Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine on the floor for a vote on Friday evening.
This bill has been the source of much controversy since it passed the Senate in February. While a small number of Republicans have balked at helping Ukraine defend itself, The Squad and its allies don't want to send aid to Israel once again, demonstrating the Horseshoe Theory at work.
BACKGROUND:
Speaker Johnson Confirms the $96 Billion Israel-Taiwan-Ukraine Aid Bill Will Get a Vote Very Soon
$96 Billion Ukraine-Israel Assistance Bill Clears Major Senate Hurdle
Ukraine-Israel Aid Package Clears the Senate and Heads to the House
House Speaker Mike Johnson Effectively Kills Senate Supplemental Ukraine Aid Bill
Mike Johnson Holds the Line As GOP Senators Pressure Him to Bring Ukraine Bill to the House Floor
Speaker Johnson Tells Colleagues He'll Allow a Vote on the Ukraine Aid Bill in April
The plan is to introduce the three aid packages as separate bills, but the same rules will cover them. To make this happen, the Rules Committee will have to approve it, and Democrats will need to consent. At present, Johnson says he intends to allow some number of amendments to be offered to each bill.
A fourth bill that is not an aid bill will be included in the package.
A fourth bill would include a mix of other policies favored by the GOP. These are the REPO Act, which would allow the U.S. to sell seized Russian sovereign assets; the House-passed TikTok ban bill; a Lend-Lease Act for military aid; and convertible loans for economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
RELATED: The West Will Make Russia Pay to Rebuild Ukraine and This Is How That Will Happen
This move was foreshadowed over the weekend during an interview on Fox News Channel's "Sunday Morning Future," where he said that Ukraine aid had former President Trump's blessing.
Mike Johnson to Maria Bartiromo on Trump: "I had a great visit with him at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, and he and I are 100 percent united on these big agenda items." pic.twitter.com/UmvT7VMIos— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 14, 2024
BACKGROUND: Donald Trump Offers Speaker Johnson a Fig Leaf of Respectability on Ukraine-Israel-Taiwan Aid Package
The Ukraine aid package is anticipated to require the White House to present a strategy for Ukrainian victory, require the US to release longer-range weapons to Ukraine, reinstate the lapsed lend-lease program, and create a class of loans that can be converted to grants.
Johnson doesn't seem to have received much opposition to his plan. Republican Study Committee chairman Kevin Hern and Arizona Republican Andy Biggs agree with the process.
Not everyone is happy, though.
It’s antisemitic to make Israeli aid contingent on funding Ukrainian Nazis.
These should be separate bills.— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) April 14, 2024
Iran says they are going to attack Israel soon and we’ve know all week.
Speaker Johnson could have brought a stand alone Israel aid package to the floor this week.
But instead will likely tie Israel aid to $60 billion for Ukraine next week after Israel has already been attacked…— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) April 12, 2024
What makes this so rich is that Greene voted against a standalone Israel aid package in February.
The vote is contingent upon the bill's text being made available to members by Tuesday evening.
Vacate the chair!
I wish we lived in a Republic...we could Petition our government with our grievances, and there are many.
Could we condition out aid on not being able to use it to buy American made weapons?
Yeah, I know...no.
Well, can we at least avoid sending it through Ukraine first? There is a lot of “Shrink” there.
Right on cue, PBS is gladly doing their part in spreading the bias of the Biden Administration concerning funding for Ukraine, by sending Amna Nawaz all the way to Kyiv to have a sit down interview with Zelensky, and airing it tonight on the PBS NewsHour.
>
I wish we lived in a Republic...we could Petition our government with our grievances, and there are many.
>
Right to petition != mandate they heed, hear or read.
Though, personally, I find it quite ‘funny’ & ironic, many (R)N(C), & on FR, over the years being just DANDY w/ “foreign aide” (going to their supported ‘sugar baby’ du jour), or wailing “I ‘paid’ into {Ponzi scheme of support}”. Bet many voted in support the latest ${X} for ‘schools’, police/fire union contracts.
Hell, like abused spouses, many quickly returned to the stadiums to support their fav. teams....break & circuses.
We’re LONG past the lost Republic stage (can thank the tyrant Lincoln)
***
“But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case it is unfit to exist.”
― Lysander Spooner, No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority
If true, then there’s no choice but to vacate the chair.
I hope and pray that the votes to do so will be there.
I just wrote to my rep..all have same email format
.
(first).(last)@mail.house.gov
example - jane.doe@mail.house.gov
.
my email ended with God Bless the patriots who caused RINO McCarthy to leave.
the bill is a choice between let them keep the weapons for free or make them pay.
We are going to make them pay for our stuff by giving them our money to pay us with?
Speaking of letting them keep our stuff for free sounds suspiciously like they have been given our stuff without the needed congressional authorization. The bill would only to paper over what has already been done without congressional authorization.
If what you imply is accurate, then perhaps a good choice would be to throw the responsible officials in prison, and let them work for ten cents an hour until they pay back the $60B they owe to the people.
it is how aid always worked, same bucket of money, it is just an oversimplification on my part.
if we give money to Ethiopia for famine, we’d expect them to spend that money on our product. so the grain is already on the ground being distributed due to famine, we just send ‘replacement’ grain later.
same with xxxx country in war. we already have our stuff in the conflict zone. by the time the congress decide on aid for xxxx (then to send aid, the war is over).... it just makes accounting easier.
there is always a loophole with aid, thru 3 party firms, typically US firms. getting part of that aid money, back into US firms. hmmm, wouldn’t it be great to run a ‘non-profit’ in a 3rd world country and get rich?
[#6] the bill is a choice between let them keep the weapons for free or make them pay.[#28] if we give money to Ethiopia for famine, we’d expect them to spend that money on our product. so the grain is already on the ground being distributed due to famine, we just send ‘replacement’ grain later.
In the case of Ukraine, we have not given anyone the money. The money has not yet been created. Congress has not passed a package of funding for Ukraine in months and is still squabbling about whether to give them any more money.
[#28] same with xxxx country in war. we already have our stuff in the conflict zone. by the time the congress decide on aid for xxxx (then to send aid, the war is over).... it just makes accounting easier.
I have a very modest knowledge of military accounting. If the comptroller obligates a penny more spending the he has been authorized, he incurs a reportable accounting violation.
Either the weapons are in the possession of the U.S., or they have been given to Ukraine. We can stage it anywhere while in our possession. What takes authorization is to release the weapons from our possession. Release of the weapons without authorization is illegal.
Absent congressional authorization, they do not get the money, they do not get the weapons, and they have nothing to return. If the weapons remain in our possession, the concept of "a choice between let them keep the weapons for free or make them pay," does not arise.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.