WASHINGTON, United States: The Republican leader of the US House of Representatives blocked war aid to Ukraine on Tuesday, ignoring President Joe Biden’s plea that passage of the bill was vital to standing up to “Russian dictator” Vladimir Putin.
Speaker Mike Johnson, who works closely with Biden’s likely challenger in the November election, Donald Trump, told reporters he had no intention of even voting on the bill.
“I certainly don’t,” he said.
The bill was passed in the Senate on Tuesday. It includes $95 billion in funding, mostly for security in pro-Western Ukraine, as well as major US strategic priorities for Israel and Taiwan.
At the White House, Biden said helping US allies — and especially helping Ukraine, which is struggling to fend off a two-year Russian invasion — is a core responsibility.
“History is watching,” the Democrat said, repeating the phrase five times in his televised remarks, adding “Supporting this bill is standing up to Putin. Opposing it is playing into Putin’s hands.”
Biden also came hard on Trump after the former one-term president encouraged Russia to attack NATO members who failed to meet financial commitments.
“For God’s sake, it’s dumb. It’s shameful. It’s dangerous. It’s un-American,” Biden said, saying that twice-impeached Trump viewed the Western military alliance as a “protection racket.”
“No other president in our history has ever bowed down to a Russian dictator.”
Republican maneuvers
US aid to Ukraine has been paralyzed for months by chaos in Congress, even as Kiev pleads for help to counter growing Russian attacks.
The $95 billion Senate package includes funding for Israel’s military and the democratic island of Taiwan, but the lion’s share — $60 billion — would help Ukraine replenish its stockpile of ammunition, weapons and other critical needs.
It passed easily in the Senate when enough Republicans defied Trump’s behind-the-scenes maneuvers.
But Johnson then said he could not address Ukraine’s security without first taking tough new measures to stop illegal migration into the United States through the Mexican border.
“We really do owe it to the American people to get control of that border,” he said.
In fact, Senate Democrats have already worked with Republicans to draft a joint bill that would provide foreign aid while imposing the toughest new security measures at the US border in a decade.
This bill was ready to pass in the Senate when Johnson announced that it would be killed in the House.
That prompted the Senate to ditch that version and move on to Tuesday’s new foreign-aid-only bill — which Johnson again rejected.
Trump — who dominates the Republican Party despite losing the last election and now faces 91 charges in four separate cases — has been pulling the strings in Congress throughout the saga.
He opposes helping Ukraine fight Russia, says he would resolve the war in a day if elected, and has openly told lawmakers not to push for U.S. border reforms — while heavily promoting what he says is a desperate need to fix the border.
Biden attacked Trump for using the border issue as a political battering ram.
