National Security Committees Are Being Left Out of Foreign Aid Bill Discussion, Chairman Says

Speaker Johnson is leaving key House committees in the dark on whether he will ever support a comprehensive foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Free China, one powerful committee chairman tells the Sun. Congressman Mike McCaul, who leads the Foreign Affairs Committee, says Mr. Johnson has given committee leaders no timeline on when any foreign aid bill would be released, let alone receive a vote. “I think he wants to do the normal appropriations process first,” Mr. McCaul says, referring to the partial government shutdown deadline on March 22. “But I still don’t know.”When asked if Mr. Johnson had given him any assurances that a bill would be considered at the end of the funding process, Mr. McCaul responded curtly: “No. He hasn’t told us anything.”Mr. McCaul and other national security committee chairmen — including the leaders of the Armed Services and Intelligence committees — have been working on their own foreign aid bill framework with Mr. Johnson’s blessing, but the speaker has told reporters that he has not promised it would receive a floor vote.Rank-and-file members have also grown frustrated with the speaker’s intransigence and lack of clarity. In February, a bipartisan group of eight House members introduced the Defending Borders, Defending Democracies Act, which includes money for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and the border.“There are some time-sensitive, existential things going on both at our own border and at the borders of our allies overseas,” the Republican leader of the effort, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, said. Those eight members are hoping to force a vote on the floor by using a procedural tool known as a discharge petition, which allows a majority of House members to sign on to legislation and trigger a vote, even without leadership’s approval. The discharge petition has garnered 14 signatures — far short of the 218 required. Mr. Johnson is actively telling his Republican colleagues to not sign on. Democrats are also wary of signing on to the petition because it includes billions of dollars in unconditional aid for Israel, which liberals say is unacceptable. Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pramila Jayapal have told the Sun that they would not sign on to any aid package that does not condition aid to the Jewish state. The goodwill Mr. Johnson enjoyed when he first ascended to the job in October has begun to wear thin among his fellow Republicans. Senator McConnell has publicly come out against the speaker’s tactics. On Tuesday, Mr. McConnell said it was time to “finish the job” on the foreign aid package.“The chilling reality here is abundantly clear,” the Senate Republican leader said on Tuesday. “Withholding critical weapons has not helped manage [President] Putin’s escalation. It has only emboldened him.”In February, the Senate passed its own $95 billion package with 70 members voting in favor. Mr. Johnson has said the deal is unacceptable because it includes no money for border security or immigration enforcement. His mixed messages on foreign aid have left members deeply frustrated, as evidenced not only by Mr. McCaul’s comments but by rank-and-file members filing their own foreign aid bills. During the State of the Union address, Mr. Johnson often stood and applauded when President Biden derided the Russian invasion and when the president said that Ukraine needs more aid. Yet when it came to laying out his own plan for such an aid package, Mr. Johnson said again at a Republican retreat on Wednesday that he would not touch any foreign aid bill without border security. Even outside groups are trying to pressure the GOP to put either the Senate bill or Mr. Fitzpatrick’s bill on the floor. A new organization called Republicans for Ukraine has launched a six-figure ad buy in congressional districts across the country, asking that members either sign a discharge petition for Mr. Fitzpatrick’s bill or for the Senate’s foreign aid package. “There are enough Republicans to sign a discharge petition, pass the bill, and help Ukraine win. They just need to hurry up and do it,” a national spokesman for the group, Gunner Ramer, told the Hill. “Every day Congress delays, more Ukrainian soldiers and civilians die, and the weaker America looks.”Members being targeted include Ukraine aid supporters like Representatives Mike Gallagher, Dan Crenshaw, and Jake Ellzey — all of whom have so far failed to sign on to any of the discharge petitions.

National Security Committees Are Being Left Out of Foreign Aid Bill Discussion, Chairman Says

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