(WatchDogReport.org) – House Speaker Mike Johnson rejected the proposed $95 billion foreign assistance bill, effectively putting a stop to its chances of becoming law… for now.
On February 13, the Republican legislator from Louisiana told reporters that the House does not plan on voting on the bill at all. The comments on Capitol Hill came as a disappointment to senators who put together the proposed legislation after an extended all-night session.
Ahead of the Monday vote, Johnson warned the Senate that the bill was unlikely to be considered in the House, telling the other chamber that it had wasted its time attempting to approve the package without first taking measures to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. Johnson also said that the American people deserved better than the way the Senate was behaving by prioritizing foreign assistance over American security.
After a vote on Tuesday morning, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell issued a statement in which he claimed victory and stressed his belief in the importance of “leadership.” McConnell promised that the Senate was resolute on the bill, and that he planned to maintain U.S. support for Ukraine in its effort to defend against the Russian invasion.
House Democrats have stated their intention to use all available procedural means to introduce the measure or an alternate type of foreign assistance. The discharge petition stands as the most probable instrument for them.
To get around Johnson and get the measure on the floor, however, a discharge petition requires a small number of Republicans to join Democrats in an unprecedented rebuke of the Speaker. But the aid bill has its detractors among Democrats, most notably the party’s expanding pro-Palestinian faction.
Republicans have grown increasingly critical of McConnell’s leadership, and some have even called for his resignation, as he has been aligning more with Democrat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) than with his Republican counterparts.
Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who is in favor of indefinite financing for Ukraine, made the controversial declaration in Monday’s Senate floor comments that the decision to provide military weaponry to Ukraine would be the most consequential vote that senators from the United States will ever take.
However, according to polling, issues of immigration and border control, the economy, and crime are more important than paying for non-US-involved wars abroad.
Speaker Johnson has assured that the Republican-led House would not be rushed or coerced into enacting a foreign assistance package.
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