Alexander Topchiy16:27, 14.11.23
The move will allow lawmakers to finalize the year’s spending bills within the next two months.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell supported House Speaker Mike Johnson’s proposal to fund the government for two months, although it would not include funding for Ukraine, which is one of McConnell’s priorities.
As a result, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is under increasing pressure to go along with Johnson’s plan. The Hill writes about this .
On Monday, McConnell praised Johnson’s proposal as “a responsible measure that will avoid a [government] shutdown, avoid harmful cuts to federal spending” and allow lawmakers to finalize the year’s spending bills over the next two months.
Schumer has insisted for weeks that spending legislation must have bipartisan support, and with McConnell backing Johnson’s proposal, Senate Democrats have no choice but to go along with it.
Schumer delayed a procedural vote scheduled for Monday on moving the legislative machinery to continue the resolution to give the House more time to act.
The big question now is whether Johnson can get enough votes to pass the stopgap funding measure out of the House. But senators said Monday they expect him to achieve his goal.
McConnell allies, including Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Susan Collins, made clear last week that they are not in favor of splitting funding for federal departments and agencies into two pools with different expirations.
Senate leaders initially wanted the regular appropriations and emergency supplemental foreign aid package bills ready by the end of the year.
Faced with a united position from McConnell and Johnson, Schumer signaled Monday that Democrats are willing to pass the House stopgap spending measure.
Schumer praised the decision as a good step in the right direction because it extends government funding at current levels and does not include the drastic cuts sought by House conservatives.
He also praised Johnson’s plan to set a Feb. 2 expiration date for Defense Department funding while keeping it tied to many non-defense social spending programs that are important to Democrats.
But Johnson’s plan leaves aside funding for Ukraine, a top priority for the democratic Biden administration as well as Republican McConnell.
If Congress approves Johnson’s proposal to extend current funding levels through 2024, there will be no other mandatory government funding bill for Ukraine or Israel that could be extended until January.
Lawmakers may now consider including the clause in the annual defense spending authorization bill.
Senate Democratic Representative Dick Durbin said he would be concerned about the fate of funding for Ukraine if Congress passes Johnson’s proposal.
“I think we need to take this seriously, and we need to combine it with the other major elements of the supplement to get it all done,” he said of the Ukraine funding, warning that Congress must approve it by the end of the year.
President Biden has proposed an emergency companion bill that would include money for Israel, Ukraine, US border funding and other priorities.
Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, a member of McConnell’s leadership team, said he was unhappy with the decision to pass the stopgap measure without funding for Ukraine. “It worries me, but we just need to make sure it gets done,” he said.
(C)UNIAN 2023
The following grim article was posted one year ago by Mike. It’s actually got even worse since then :-
Trump’s yearslong crusade against Ukraine has finally come home to roost as Republicans call for abandoning Kyiv:
https://ukrainetoday.org/2022/10/26/trumps-yearslong-crusade-against-ukraine-has-finally-come-home-to-roost-as-republicans-call-for-abandoning-kyiv/
Horseshit from an angry GOP-hater. The vast majority of the GOP support Ukraine, don’t let propaganda and delusions stop anyone from supporting Ukraine. Ukraine needs everyone’s support not just Democrats.
It’s not clear what you’re calling “Horseshit”. Both the above article and the Business Insider article referenced by scradge1 seem accurate. The BI article says, “President Joe Biden pledged continued solidarity with Ukraine” / “that level of support could be in jeopardy if the GOP gains control of the House of Representatives”. They did gain control, and now both the House and Senate Republican leadership has abandoned support for Ukraine in the current funding measure.
“The vast majority of the GOP support Ukraine” – it’s not clear if you’re referring to citizens or politicians. Either way, the article referred to “a growing number of Republicans” – it didn’t say if that represented a majority. And I question your “the vast majority” – I believe that trumpkov has poisoned that well for those still in his cult.
“don’t let propaganda and delusions stop anyone from supporting Ukraine.”
It’s not propaganda and delusions stopping Ukraine support. It’s the House Freedumb Caucus and other trumpkov followers.
“Ukraine needs everyone’s support”
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦
Heroyam Slava
The Biden administration apparently earmarked a $60bn aid package to tide Ukraine over to the US election in one year’s time.
We are told that Ukraine has already used 96% of the previously allocated funds.
Does anyone know if the $60bn involves actual money from the treasury?
Presumably the $60bn is a notional amount, since the materiel comes from existing US stocks and has already been paid for; in some cases up to 30 years earlier?
Also: has the missing $6bn left over due to the “accounting error” been allocated?
Not sure about your first question(s)
But the accounting error is what is being used now while we wait for representatives and senators to get their collective heads out of their asses and do their fricken job.
As for the article it is a kick the can measure that excludes funding for Ukraine, Israel, Southern Border Security, and Taiwan. From sound of it those four points won’t be dealt with till after Thanksgiving.
CNN: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that the combined national security package — which includes aid for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and the border — will be taken up by the chamber after Thanksgiving, as senators from both parties negotiate the border policy piece.
Schumer said that he wants “very strongly, all four requests of the president be approved — Ukraine, Israel, humanitarian, and Indo-Pacific. And we’re going to work very hard to get that down,” adding that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his request to have border security added to the package is one of the holdups.
“We have Democrats and Republicans working together to try to come up with a border security package that will have bipartisan support. But we have to get this done, and as soon as we come back in Thanksgiving, it will be a very high priority, get all four of them done, all four have bipartisan support in the House. Together,” he said.
Asked about House GOP efforts to separate the package into smaller, standalone bills, Schumer replied, “We need bipartisan support for all four, and I’m going to work strenuously, very hard to get all four done.”
I am very concerned about the very murky political game of the rattlesnake who presides over the House. He has just pledged allegiance to the orange balloon for 2024. It all doesn’t smell very good.
I am not sure that the procrastination, the dissensions, the delays are only the expression of political life, but also a desire to jeopardize certain commitments through deliberate indecision.
We’ll see next Thursday what’s really going on.
But can you imagine what weight this uncertainty weighs on the Ukrainian front!? Ukraine deserves a thousand times better.