Biden throws support behind foreign aid package
WASHINGTON — President
Joe Biden said Wednesday that he strongly supports a proposal from House Speaker Mike Johnson to provide aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.
“The House must pass the package this week, and the Senate should quickly follow,” Biden said. “I will sign this into law immediately to send a message to the world: We stand with our friends, and we won’t let Iran or Russia succeed.”
Johnson notified GOP lawmakers Wednesday that he would push to hold votes on three funding packages for Israel, Ukraine and allies in the Indo-pacific, as well as a several other foreign policy proposals in a fourth bill.
Johnson is proposing that economic assistance for Kyiv be structured as forgivable loans, along with greater oversight on military funding, but the decision to support Ukraine at all has angered populist conservatives in the House and given new energy to a threat to remove him from the speaker’s office.
The bills “will fund America’s national security interests and allies in Israel, the Indo-pacific, and Ukraine,” Johnson wrote in a text message to members, which was shared by two Republican lawmakers.
The votes on the package are expected Saturday evening, Johnson said. But he faces a treacherous path to get there.
The speaker will need Democratic support on the procedural maneuvers to advance his complex plan of holding separate votes on each of the aid packages.
The top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, Connecticut Rep. Rosa Delauro, said in a statement that the three funding proposals for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan “mirror” a $95 billion foreign aid package that the Senate passed in February.
Crucial to Democratic support, the House proposal kept in tact roughly $9 billion in humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza and other conflict zones.
Meanwhile, the threat to oust Johnson from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican of Georgia, gained support this week. One other Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, said he was joining Greene and called for Johnson to resign.