Posted on 04/19/2024 8:23:09 AM PDT by Miami Rebel
The House on Friday advanced legislation to send aid to Ukraine and other embattled U.S. allies overseas, clearing a key procedural hurdle after Democrats stepped in to back the measure — a rare move by the minority party, but one that was crucial to nudge the package forward in the face of fierce conservative opposition.
The chamber approved the foreign aid rule in a 316-94 vote, opening up debate on a quartet of bills combining military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with humanitarian assistance to Gaza and other global war zones. The successful rule tees up final passage of all four measures, which are scheduled to hit the floor in separate votes on Saturday afternoon.
The successful vote brings Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) one step closer to passing an explosive foreign aid package that has been the subject of intense debate within the Capitol — and his conference — for months amid dire warnings from lawmakers, U.S. officials and foreign figures that Kyiv’s beleaguered forces need more U.S. assistance.
But the bipartisan vote is sure to land Johnson in more hot water with his right flank, which has sharply criticized the package — both for the billions of dollars in Ukraine aid and the exclusion of border security — and have long denounced the Speaker’s tendency to work with Democrats to advance key priorities including, now, foreign assistance.
Highlighting those internal tensions, three Republicans on the House Rules Committee had voted against the rule on the panel late Thursday night. And 55 conservatives voted against it again when it hit the House floor Friday morning. The House Freedom Caucus released an official position on Thursday urging all Republicans to oppose the rule.
The internal opposition to what has historically been a standard procedural matter has become its own routine this Congress, as conservatives have sought to press GOP leaders to fight harder for Republican priorities — the issue that led to the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) last October.
But despite the drama, Johnson’s job appears safe — for now.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has filed a resolution to oust the Speaker, but she has not said when she plans to trigger a vote on it. And on Thursday, even as she railed against Johnson’s handling of the Ukraine debate, she said she’s not ready to force her vacate resolution to the floor.
“I’m not acting out of emotions, or rash feelings, or anger,” Greene said. “I’m doing this the right way, and I’m allowing my conference to see exactly what I saw months ago.”
Lending Johnson a huge boost – and perhaps a job-security lifeline — former President Trump threw his support behind the Speaker during a joint appearance at Mar-a-Lago last week, a vote of confidence that has muddied Greene’s path forward in her ouster effort.
Even if she does force a vote to remove Johnson, Democrats are likely to step in and save him. A number of Democrats in recent months have said that if the Speaker moves aid for Ukraine they will protect him from a conservative coup. Some have predicted there are dozens of Democrats in that camp.
On Friday’s rule vote, the eleventh-hour help from Democrats did not come as a surprise: President Biden endorsed the foreign aid package earlier this week, and the four Democrats on the Rules Committee voted late Thursday night to advance the package through the panel over the opposition of three committee conservatives.
Nonetheless, the Democratic support was extraordinary: members of the minority party rarely help majority leaders pass procedural rules. The only other instance of Democrats helping Republicans advance legislation on a procedural vote this Congress was in May, when Democrats crossed the aisle to support a rule to begin debate on the debt limit bill crafted by Biden and McCarthy.
Friday’s bipartisan vote to advance the foreign aid package — and Johnson’s decision to risk his gavel to bring it to the floor — are both a reflection of the urgency felt by leaders in both parties as Ukraine is running low on weapons supplies and Israel is under fire from Iran.
Gotta keep the Laundromat going, Americans won’t flee e themselves.
The Ruling Oligarchy ALWAYS gets its way.
Ukraine funding is an Oligarchy agenda item, so nothing will stop them.
Illegal immigration is an Oligarchy agenda item, so they got VERY upset when their agenda was halted for four years.
JUDAS!
Republicans? Democrats? The illusion of choice is more like it-—I blame Republicans for getting us to this point-—they were voted in to stop, they didn’t!
Let’s put it this way——Democrats are actually “raping” you while Republicans are filming it and cheering them on! Who’s worse?
The Democrats held off on their voting until enough Repubs voted yes, then they joined in, while letting their ultraultraantisemites vote no. Pure theater all around.
The assistant Democrats know they have us by the small hairs. If we revolt, Jeffries becomes Speaker, the House votes an insurrectionist bill blocking Trump from running, the Senate joins in 51-49, and Biden signs it before going to Rehoboth Beach in his CinC role.
This is not a surprise. We have had almost four years of inaction and interparty nit-picking when the border could have been contained by pressuring the WH.
The GOP and DNC are on the same page as it comes to world-wide politics and the supremacy. of the dollar and thus, the US.
Nothing will be done by either party to upset the moves that are being laid down to do so.
Every overreach and misstep is being backed by those in power on both sides.
But, for every action there is a reaction, and we are witnessing the rest of the world’s (and massive population and commodity infrastructures) attempt to pull off the greatest feat in modern history: dethroning the system that backs the US and Europe.
Is the gazian aid money still hidden in it?
I can actually see thinking conservatives going along. After all, if you have your eyes open you can see you're sailing on the political equivalent of the Titanic. If you go along, you (and your family) get reserved seats on the lifeboats and in the meantime you still get to eat in the first class dining room.
We're either going to get a Dem corporate-fascist state or a Pinochet-like regime to crush the Left. But either way, there isn't going to be any return to a Constitutional republic anytime soon. Trump, like the Gracchi, is just a speed bump to the oligarchy until a genuine Caesar appears.
The American people are NOT being represented.
The Republicans do not deserve to control the House and Senate. I’ll be enthusiastically voting for Trump and none of the down ticket races.
That's highly dubious. Short of impeaching Biden, which even a Republican House and especially Senate will not do, there's nothing they can do. The regime wants the border open, so it stays open. The only thing they could do is stop all government funding. But there are too many government check recipients, so that would mean political disaster for any majority blocking funding.
The only solution is removing the "Biden" regime and prosecuting afterwards. Anything in Congress is just theater.
But you have to do what you have to do....
And Hope and Pray and VOTE for change in November.
Then why bother voting. Trump will need the members of the House and Senate to back him up and visa versa.
Like they backed him up his first term?
Cuck Johnson added the tic tok bill in with all this.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/18/tech/tiktok-ban-congress/index.html
Remember when he was saying he was going to do separate bills for things?
I guess he doesn’t remember that either.
In 2019 the house was nancy's...evermore.....
Good. I’m sorry that a lot of people here became deluded and started thinking that support for Ukraine is the only issue or the number one issue facing the United States.
It’s an important issue but it is not the end of the world meaning that we have to throw all our Republican leaders out if they want to support the survival of Ukraine.
I totally support president Trump. He wants Europe to do more but he also said that Ukraine’s independence is important.
If everyone needs to calm down and stop listening to people who are probably working for Russia and that is not an exaggeration in at least a few cases.
No Senate....No Presidency....No get what you want...
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Did we really get what a sizable amount of what we wanted when we did have the Presidency and Senate?
Other than Trump, why even bother to vote for the GOP?
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