Oleg Davygora23:29, 04/18/24
Speaker Johnson will need Democratic votes to approve the relief plan.
Long-stalled aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan is on track to pass Congress as House Democrats lined up to back Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan and provide the votes to overcome a planned blockade attempt by GOP conservatives.
According to Bloomberg, the House of Representatives is expected to hold a series of votes on the relief package on Saturday, and the Senate will consider it next week. The plan largely mirrors the $95 billion foreign aid package passed by the Senate in February, with about $10 billion of economic aid to Ukraine converted into loans.
“We’re going to do whatever it takes to get this national security bill over the finish line. This is not a Johnson foreign aid package. This is an American foreign aid package to meet our national security needs,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said.
The Biden administration is preparing to quickly send aid to Ukraine once Congress passes the measure and the president signs it into law, a U.S. official said.
Johnson will need Democratic votes to pass the plan after ultra-conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus said they would vote against the procedural measure to open debate on it. Minority Democrats had to do the same in May to pass measures to raise the debt ceiling and prevent the US from defaulting on payments.
US aid package for Ukraine
The $95 billion relief package contains national security and sanctions provisions that have bipartisan support. It also allows for the confiscation of Russian dollar assets, which critics say would weaken the US dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency.
Democrats may also have to help Johnson retain his job, which has come under increasing threat from his decision to allow a vote on Ukraine aid without tying the package to U.S. border security provisions.
President Joe Biden first sought help from Ukraine and Israel in October, but it quickly fell victim to congressional disagreements over immigration policy.
Johnson said he did not ask Democrats to help him and was willing to risk his job to help Ukraine stop the Russian invasion.
“My philosophy is that you do the right thing and let the chips fall where they may. I’m a Reagan Republican. I believe in peace through strength,” he said.
(C)UNIAN 2024
“Democrats may also have to help Johnson retain his job”
That’s probably a part of the reason why he offered a compromise now, after months of delays. Still, it’s too early for celebrations. Let’s wait if/until the bill really passes. 😕
Agreed, but I’m a lot more optimistic now than I was yesterday.
If Johnson was willing to risk his job for Ukraine, why didn’t he do this months ago???🤔🙄
Because of the horse trading that went on in the background.
It isn’t conservatives that are trying to stop the help Ukraine needs. It’s the MAGAts that pretend to be conservatives that are the problem. The MAGAts are simply Russian tools. MTG, for example, has been using Putin’s propaganda almost word for word on the house floor.
The maga maggots also pretend to be patriots and Republicans.
This just in at the NYT:
“In Unusual Vote, Democrats Rescue Measure to Allow Vote on Ukraine Bill”
135 Republican amendement! 2 democrat amendement!
Until the laws are on Biden’s breakfast tray one of these next April mornings, I don’t believe it.
I hope that the process can be done on time (House recess next week).
Some amendments to know who is who:
https://rules.house.gov/bill/118/hr-8035
Moskovitz
– Revised Sense of Congress that Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14) should be appointed as Vladimir Putin’s Special Envoy to the United States Congress. 🙂
– Revised Renaming 403 Cannon House Office Building the “Neville Chamberlain Room” 🙂
MTG
– Reduces every dollar amount in the bill to zero.
– Strikes the entire bill and replaces it with H.R. 2.
– Redirects funding in the bill to build The Wall.
– Redirects funding to families of individuals who die from fentanyl.
– Creates a Treasury fund from which the Attorney General shall provide assistance to families of individuals killed by illegal aliens.
– Revised Prohibits funding until Ukraine’s Corruption Perceptions Index reaches a level commensurate to that of its NATO-member neighbors.
– Revised Prohibits funding until Ukraine bans abortion.
– Revised Prohibits funding for the Azov Battalion.
– Revised Prohibits funding until Ukraine turns over all information related to Hunter Biden and Burisma.
– Revised Prohibits funding for NATO troops in Ukraine.
– Revised Directs the president to withdraw the U.S. from NATO.
– Revised Prohibits funding until peace negotiations begin between Russia and Ukraine.
– Revised Funds made available by this Act shall be offset by the salaries of Members who vote in favor of it.
– Revised Prohibits funding until former actor Volodymyr Zelensky resigns as President of Ukraine.
– Requires any country that receives U.S. financial aid to provide the U.S. with funds to build a wall on the southern border.
– Prohibits funding until Ukraine lifts restrictions on the right of ethnic minorities, including Hungarians, to use their native languages in schools.
Roy
– Revised None of the funds made available by this Act may be obligated or expended or otherwise allocated until the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine submits all documents related to any investigation of Burisma Holdings Ltd. to Congress.
Brecheen
– Requires the President publicly disclose the number of American military personnel present in Ukraine.
Good, Biggs
– Prohibiting funds to be dispersed until Zelenskyy certifies in writing to Congress that President Trump did not seek Zelenskyy’s assistance in influencing the 2020 election.
Garcia
– Strikes direct budgetary support for Ukraine
Nunn
– Revised Requires funds used for infrastructure construction and repairs under the headings ‘‘Economic Support Fund’’ and ‘‘Assistance for Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia’’ to be given preference to United States companies.
Donalds
– Requires that 2% of the proceeds from future critical mineral sales in Ukraine be provided to the United States, and such requirement shall last until the aid provided by this Act is repaid to the United States in full.
Gosar
– Prohibits funding to conceal or classify records regarding the Nord Stream pipeline explosions and the environmental impacts of the Nord Stream pipeline explosions.
– Prohibits funding to conceal or classify records regarding the detention of Gonzalo Lira.
Davidson
– Inserts the text of H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023.
Mace
– Provides that no funds made available by this Act may be obligated or expended until operational control of the United States-Mexico border is achieved
– Provides that no funds made available by this Act may be obligated or expended until the budget is balanced.
Massie
– This amendment prohibits the use of funds to transfer cluster munitions.
Rose
– Restricts funding provided in the Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act from being obligated or expended unless the President certifies that a certain amount of border wall is completed on the southern border of the United States and Mexico. Specifically, for each mile of border wall completed, $1 billion of the funds can be used.
Van Drew
– To require that U.S. financial assistance to Ukraine does not exceed the total contributions made by European countries to Ukraine.
Gaetz
– Prohibits funds from being used to provide arms, training, or other assistance to mercenaries.
– Revised Prohibits funding until Ukraine’s Corruption Perceptions Index reaches a level commensurate to that of its NATO-member neighbors.
Ukraine are ranked 11 places above Turkey. Next one please.
This controversy over corruption is distorted and annoying for at least 2 reasons.
1. Not a single country or Union (Qatargate…) escapes these more or less serious phenomena of corruption. Where power and money are concentrated, it is impossible to guarantee the integrity of democratic systems! Moreover, how can we really define what corruption is when we allow elected officials who sit in legislative chamber to be part of numerous boards of directors of private companies (this is the case for many so-called very “developed” countries)?
2. Even if the phenomenon is obviously a problem in Ukraine, undoubtedly more than elsewhere, It would be unfair to measure the degree of corruption’s influence by dissociating it from the country’s struggle to escape Moscow’s control. The vestiges of corruption operating in Ukraine (Russian Orthodox Church…) are above all the still living representation of the Soviet ideology printed by the Kremlin for decades. Fighting Russia on the military front also means fighting domestic corruption.
Hi F1,
In the past 30 mins or so, Veth posted an article headed:
“The Russian Federation will not interrupt hostilities in Ukraine even in the event of negotiations.”
I posted a comment on there which I want to request that you delete. It was a stupid reaction and I don’t want trolls to pick up on it.
Unfortunately JetPack or WP does not let me edit or delete comments any more for some reason.
Many thanks.
I’ll delete it. Even though there is nothing wrong with it.
Can you see if I still have editing capability?
I can post articles no problem. Even can edit the articles, but can’t edit or delete comments made.
In fact I often edit, or delete after thinking about a comment.
You are listed as being an author, which allows you to edit your own posts. I have upgraded you to editor so you should not have any more problems.
Excellent!
Thank you F1!
We’ll give it a try, there’s nothing wrong with second thoughts, they’re usually clearer. Hopefully fairer too.
From a post by Prof. Heather Cox Richardson:
Many congress members have left Washington, D.C., since Friday was to be the first day of a planned recess. This meant the partisan majority on the floor fluctuated. Olivia Beavers of Politico reported that that instability made Freedom Caucus members nervous enough to put together a Floor Action Response Team (FART—I am not making this up) to make sure other Republicans didn’t limit the power of the extremists when they were off the floor.