Ukraine aid bill moves
GOP House leader Johnson gets help from Dems on package
Congressional Democrats on Friday pushed a long-stalled aid package for Ukraine towards passage and gave House Speaker Mike Johnson a boost.
Led by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrats took the unusual step of backing the Republican leader’s effort to bring the desperately needed aid to embattled Kyiv up for a vote.
The measure passed 316-94 with 55 Republicans voting against it. The next step is a vote on the aid package itself, which is expected no later than Saturday.
“This is the best possible product … to take care of these very important obligations,” Johnson told reporters after the vote.
With right-wing hardliners bitterly opposed to helping Ukraine, Johnson needs Democratic votes to pass the measure in the nearly evenly divided House.
“... It was pretty obvious to us, given the growing number of pro-Putin Republicans in the GOP, particularly in the House, that this was going to require substantial Democratic participation,” said Jeffries, referring to Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.
A similar dynamic could unfold if MAGA critics follow through on threats to oust Johnson from the speaker’s post, underlining Jeffries’ newfound power amid deepening GOP divisions.
The House is also expected to pass aid to Israel, along with assistance for Taiwan. The measures largely mirror the provisions of a bill passed by the Democratic-led Senate months ago, but has been split up into separate bills to permit different coalitions to support the different efforts.
A healthy majority of the entire House supports helping Ukraine repel an invasion by Russia. But Republicans are split more or less down the middle, making it extremely controversial within the GOP caucus.
After dithering for months, Johnson came out strongly in favor of Ukraine aid this week, calling it a historical imperative to help the Western ally defend itself.
That sparked howls of outrage from his MAGA critics like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has vowed to try to topple Johnson if he lets the Ukraine aid pass.
Another Republican hardliner, Rep. Paul Gosar, joined her effort to remove Johnson as speaker after the Ukraine vote, meaning three GOP lawmakers are now on the record calling for his ouster.
Republicans hold just a five-seat majority in the House and that edge will be reduced to four when a Wisconsin lawmaker’s resignation becomes official this weekend.
That means Johnson could afford to lose just one GOP vote if all Democrats vote against him as would normally be the case.
Some Democrats say they are ready to save Johnson by sitting out any effort to oust him. But Jeffries warned lawmakers to let leaders negotiate any compromise, which would likely involve wringing concessions from the Republican leader in exchange for letting him survive.
The Department of Education on Friday announced new rules updating Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, the federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded schools.
The new regulations — which explicitly protect all students from discrimination, including survivors of sexual assault and those who identify as LGBTQ — advance the landmark civil law’s promise of “ensuring that no person experiences sex discrimination in federally funded education,” the Education Department said in a news release.
“For more than 50 years, Title IX has promised an equal opportunity to learn and thrive in our nation’s schools free from sex discrimination,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said Friday in a statement. “These final regulations build on the legacy of Title IX by clarifying that all our nation’s students can access schools that are safe, welcoming and respect their rights.”
But notably, the changes failed to address the participation of transgender students in sports activities. The administration had originally planned to include provisions to prohibit schools from enacting anti-trans sports bans. But the “rulemaking process” for a new Title IX regulation related to athletics is still “ongoing,” officials said.
The highly anticipated update to Title IX, which comes after months of pressure from advocacy groups, codifies protections for LGBTQ+ students and reinstates protections for survivors of sexual assault and harassment that had been rolled back under the Trump administration.
Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who in May 2020 announced new protections for people accused of campus sexual harassment, took to social media Friday morning to criticize what she called Biden’s “radical re-write of #TitleIX,” adding the federal law will now be used to “harm women.”
But the new rules were welcomed as “life-changing for so many LGBTQ+ youth,” Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, told the Daily News via email.
“[It’ll] help ensure LGBTQ+ students can receive the same educational experience as their peers: going to dances, safely using the restroom, and writing stories that tell the truth about their own lives,” Robinson said.
“School administrators should take note and immediately act to implement anti-bias and anti-bullying and harassment programs that ensure misgendering stops, that cruelty against LGBTQ+ students ends and that every student has access to an education free of discrimination.”
Rep. Mark Pocan, a Wisconsin Democrat and the chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, applauded Friday’s announcement, praising the Biden administration’s “commitment to defending LGBTQI+ students’ right to a safe and affirming learning environment.”
Casey Pick, director of law and policy at the Trevor Project, the nation’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ youth, said the new rules are an “important step” in the protection of LGBTQ students who face discrimination “simply for being themselves.”
However, Pick added that protections for trans student athletes from discrimination “must be addressed.”
“[It’ll] help ensure LGBTQ+ students can receive the same educational experience as their peers: going to dances, safely using the restroom, and writing stories that tell the truth about their own lives.” HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN PRESIDENT KELLEY ROBINSON