Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, is working with the Democratic minority to pass additional foreign aid spending packages without the will or consent of the Republican House majority elected by our people. He brazenly pushed through “rules” establishing guidelines to essentially manipulate the vote before Saturday’s vote was cast, setting up the likely inevitability of passage of this spending package. This spending bill is unlike anything we’ve seen before. It has provided billions of dollars in additional grant aid and military aid to Ukraine, which continues to lose the war with Russia. If Mike Johnson and Joe Biden want war with Russia, they should bring up a vote to declare war in the House of Representatives. Otherwise, we will be supporting a rogue and desperate military operation against a large nuclear power.
Similarly, the supplemental spending bill would provide billions of dollars in free military aid to Taiwan, one of the world’s wealthiest countries and a nation that can fully purchase American military weapons on the free market. . Instead, Mike Johnson conspired with Joe Biden to provide these supplies to Taiwan at the expense of U.S. taxpayers, sparking a potential conflict with China, another nuclear-armed nation. There is. Equally outrageous is the fact that Taiwan is not at war, so we are now at the low end of sending money to countries in need. Americans can’t afford to buy eggs or put gas in their cars, yet our politicians see fit to send desperately needed dollars to countries that don’t need them. .
This bill will put the Democratic Congress and President Biden in open confrontation with multiple nuclear powers! What’s worse is that they can only do it because the Republican Speaker of the House is working with them to get it done.
We understand that Republicans only control half of the legislative process. But we would be giving away half of what we control with this bill. Recognizing this, if we must make a deal, let’s make a smart deal that works for the American people.
For example, under no circumstances should the Republican-led House of Representatives pass the Ukraine aid bill without clear support from the Democratic Senate to pass HR2, the border protection bill.
That seems like a viable deal. What happened instead was that Speaker Johnson decoupled these two items, relinquishing his own influence and the influence of his House Republican colleagues. Johnson tried to change the process so that Democrats could hold a no-vote vote on the Ukraine issue and not have to pass HR2, which passed the House and sat on Schumer’s desk for 10 months. It was tampered with.
This is completely outrageous. Unless the House Republican Conference blocks it, the Washington swamp is in control. There is still a glimmer of hope for right-thinking Republicans.
It is entirely in the hands of the House Republican caucus to stop Speaker Johnson, the Democrats, and the Washington Swamp war machine from moving forward with a supplemental spending bill on Saturday by immediately filing a motion to resign and beginning a difficult but necessary process. It’s within your control. Regarding the dismissal of Speaker Johnson.
That would prevent the House from moving forward with any further legislation for the foreseeable future. If the Senate wants to advance the aid it already has for Israel, which the House passed last year and has stalled in the Senate ever since, it needs to do so without further action in the House. This could be accomplished with a simple majority vote in the Senate. . Additionally, Israeli aid started at $10 billion, then increased to $14 billion, and is now over $24 billion. If Israel needs or wants this aid, it should be provided as a loan to be repaid by American taxpayers.
Like many conservative Republicans, Chairman Johnson not only crossed the line by working with Democrats to advance this reckless foreign aid bill, he effectively switched parties and joined President Biden’s coalition. I strongly believe that I have become one of them. To advance the war with Russia at the expense of American taxpayers. Americans overwhelmingly oppose going to war with Russia, China, Iran, and other countries.
I can’t leave this alone. I urge the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives to immediately convene a motion to suspend these bills, even if it means bringing the House to a standstill. No action is better than the action Congress is trying to initiate this weekend.
Lee Rizzuto is President Donald J. Trump’s former Consul General to Bermuda and former Vice President of Conair Corporation.
