House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) on Tuesday afternoon thrust a dagger into the Senate’s hard-won $95 billion foreign aid package, all but killing its chances of passing.
Speaking in the hallways of Parliament House, Johnson ignored the bill, which the Senate passed before sunrise Tuesday after an all-night session, and said the House would focus on upcoming spending deadlines.
“That’s certainly not the case right now,” Johnson said. punch bowl news When asked if he was considering a scenario where the bill would be put to a vote. “We’re working through the appropriations process, and there’s a fast-approaching deadline for that. That’s what the House is focused on right now.”
Prime Minister Johnson said Monday night before the vote that the Senate was wasting its time trying to pass a foreign aid package without first taking meaningful steps to secure the border. “We deserve better than the current situation.”
McConnell took a victory lap after Tuesday morning’s vote and issued the following statement: “History will settle all the blame. And today, history will record that the Senate did not blink an eye when it came to the values of American leadership and strength.”
History seems destined to record the death of his package before it reached a House vote.
House Democratic leaders insist they will use every procedural tool at their disposal to get the bill and other forms of foreign aid through. The most likely of those tools is a discharge petition.
But to bypass Johnson and bring the bill to the floor, at least a few Republicans will need to join Democrats in responding to the speaker’s highly unusual rebuke. And not all Democrats support the aid bill, mainly due to the growing number of pro-Palestinian factions within the party.
Despite Mr Johnson’s comments, Mr McConnell clearly intends to continue his legacy-defining efforts to prolong the Ukraine war.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pose for a photo at the U.S. Capitol on July 27, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
In an email from McConnell’s staff reviewed by Breitbart News, Editorial Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt has argued that Prime Minister Boris Johnson should do the noble thing by sacrificing his speaker’s job to pass a huge foreign aid bill.
This step has significant implications for McConnell’s priorities.
If past is prologue, if Johnson loses the gavel, the House of Commons will remain deadlocked for weeks or more until the March 1 deadline for funding the government.
Pressure from his staff indicates that Mr. McConnell would welcome a government shutdown in exchange for providing tens of billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer aid to foreign governments.
This position is unlikely to be popular within McConnell’s Senate Republican conference. Fewer than half of minority leaders joined minority leaders in voting for the foreign aid bill, but it’s unlikely that everyone would welcome a government shutdown in a presidential election year in exchange for aid. .
Mr. McConnell’s leadership has come under increasing criticism as the party moves away from traditional establishment politicians who have found more common cause with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). , some colleagues are calling for McConnell’s removal. than my Republican colleagues.
Perhaps no issue is more emblematic of the growing divisions than additional funding for Ukraine’s war against Russia, which has become increasingly unpopular among Republican voters.
Mr. McConnell and the rest of his allies may never have felt more uncomfortable in prioritizing foreign aid over border security.
In widely criticized remarks on the Senate floor on Monday, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), a supporter of endless funding to Ukraine, argued: U.S. senator. ”
Polls continue to show that Americans are much more concerned about border security, immigration, crime, and the economy than they are about funding foreign wars.
Bradley Jay is Breitbart News’ Capitol Hill correspondent. Follow him on X/Twitter. @BradleyAJay.
