Staff Reports
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is shaking things up by demanding a face-to-face showdown with President Joe Biden to hash out the Ukraine and Israel foreign aid bill currently under consideration in the House. Johnson ain’t playing around; he’s putting the pressure on Biden to get his act together if he wants to see this bill move forward.
According to a source close to Johnson, the Speaker and his crew have been hounding the White House for a sit-down for the past two months. Even House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) called out Biden for straight-up refusing to meet with Johnson. Scalise is like, “Come on, man, the president can’t ignore the Speaker of the House and then act like he’s serious about foreign aid and border security.”
My statement on Senate’s failure to address the most critical aspect of national security supplemental legislation: pic.twitter.com/ENjJ0WzKsK
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) February 13, 2024
The Senate already passed the defense spending bill, including buckets of cash for foreign aid. We’re talking $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, and $9 billion for humanitarian aid to Gaza, the West Bank, and Ukraine. Oh, and let’s not forget about the $4.8 billion to stick it to those Chinese troublemakers in the Indo-Pacific. Now it’s the House’s turn to weigh in, and you better believe the Republicans ain’t happy about it.
See, the GOP ain’t too keen on what the House Democrats are cooking up. They’re giving Johnson grief, trying to push him to schedule a vote on the defense bill. But Johnson ain’t having it. He’s making it crystal clear that he’s not on board with this foreign aid frenzy. In fact, he straight-up said he’s gonna shut it down if it comes across his desk.
But hold up, it doesn’t stop there. Johnson’s throwing shade at the Senate, too, saying they should’ve gone back to the drawing board and added some real beefed-up border security to the bill. Instead, according to him, the Senate’s foreign aid bill is giving the cold shoulder to the most urgent issue facing our country – our southern border crisis.
Now, this whole showdown is heating up, with everyone asking, “Will House Republicans stand with President Biden and support this foreign aid bill or turn their backs on American security?” The White House is putting the pressure on the GOP, warning them not to mess this up and make a bad call. But, come on, we all know whose side Johnson and the House Republicans are on, and it ain’t the same as Biden’s, that’s for darn sure!
