Biden’s America Last Agenda
April 25, 2024 | Washington, D.C.
by Tabitha Walter, Executive Director, Eagle Forum
Securing Tax Dollars for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan More Important than Securing Our Border
After months of drama surrounding supplemental aid to Ukraine and Israel, the House and Senate finally passed a package and sent it to the President’s desk. For some, this feat was an achievement. But for most conservatives, it was a disappointment.
Shortly after Speaker Johnson assumed the gavel in October 2023, the House passed a resolution to stand with Israel (H. Res. 771). At the time, the bill garnered the support of 412 members of Congress. Then, a couple of weeks later, the Speaker pushed through the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R. 6126) containing $14.6 billion in aid paid for by cuts in IRS funding. Democrats largely refused to support this offset funding, with all but twelve opposing this bill.
On November 14th, both Democrats and Republicans joined over 290,000 people at the March for Israel just blocks from the U.S. Capitol. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) opened his speech by saying, “We are here united, Democrat and Republican, House and Senate, to say we stand with Israel,” before leading the crowd into the chant, “We stand with Israel!” Hours later, he voted, along with all 50 of his Democrat colleagues, against bringing up the House’s Israel aid bill.
Instead, the Senate came up with its own version of a supplemental foreign aid package. It included money for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, and a shoddy immigration package as well. As we reported, the Senate bipartisan immigration bill would have allowed for more immigration and severely limited a future President’s power to shut down the border in an emergency. After the grassroots expressed their opposition and House leadership announced it “dead-on-arrival,” the Senate was forced to give up its plan. Speaker Johnson made clear that real border security must be included in any foreign aid bill and this, for the GOP caucus, was their “hill to die on.”
On April 13 when Iran attacked Israel the pressure to pass aid to Israel became more urgent than ever. Democrats knew that this was the pressure they needed to push the House to act on both the Ukraine and Israel funding. A group of House Republicans were threatening to bring up the Senate-passed bill that contained the President’s wish list. To avoid this fate, Speaker Johnson took the lead in drafting a new package with a few “conservative sweeteners.” This included planned votes on four separate bills: $61 billion for Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel, $8 billion for Taiwan, and a modified TikTok divestment bill.
However, conservatives noticed one major missing piece. Where were the reforms to secure our own border? Conservatives had relied on the previous commitment that any Ukraine funding would be linked with the Secure the Border Act (H.R. 2), in an attempt to force Senate Democrats (and pro-Ukraine funding Republicans) to accept a strong border security bill in exchange for additional funding for Ukraine. Without the two issues linked in one bill, it seemed like Democrats were given an easy win.
Before the supplemental aid bills were brought to the House floor, the Speaker announced that he would hold a separate vote on a weaker border security bill that lacked some of the more controversial policies in HR 2-like mandatory E-Verify. Due to procedural moves, the End the Border Catastrophe Act (H.R. 3602) would have to be passed by two-thirds instead of a simple majority. The legislation was doomed to fail from the beginning. All Republicans present voted in favor, but was 61 votes shy of reaching passage. Ukraine funding ultimately moved on without border security.
House Republicans appear to be pointing fingers at one another from every side. However, there is a larger problem at play. With the smallest Republican majority in history, and several Members opting to retire mid-term, the Speaker is getting no help from the Republican Leader in the Senate. During so-called “4 Corner” negotiations (between the Speaker and Minority Leader in the House and Majority and Minority Leaders in the Senate), Speaker Johnson has been the only voice in the room for border security and fiscal responsibility. Sen. McConnell aggressively pushed for Ukraine aid, siding with the President, and then blaming conservatives for the “demonization” of funding the Ukraine war. He also took a hands-off approach to crafting the Senate “bipartisan” immigration bill, instead tasking Senator Lankford (R-OK) with the job of negotiating with White House and Senate Democrats and then swiftly distancing himself from the product once the House disparaged it. Instead of working with the Speaker to push for conservative policies, he instead sided with Democrats — including the President — to foil the House’s efforts. This was never a fair fight.
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