
CV NEWS FEED // House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, held firm on his position of not giving any more wartime aid to Ukraine until significant action is taken to secure the United States’ border with Mexico.
“I’ve made this very clear,” Johnson said to reporters Tuesday:
From the very beginning when I was handed the gavel, we need clarity on what we’re doing in Ukraine and how we’ll have proper oversight of the spending of precious taxpayer dollars of the American citizens. And we need transformative change at the [southern] border. Thus far, we’ve got neither.”
The speaker blasted the Democratic-controlled Senate for being “[missing in action] on this.” He stated that the House passed HR2, also known as the Secure the Border Act of 2023, back in May. “It’s been sitting and collecting dust on [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer’s [D-NY] desk,” Johnson said:
I have told [Schumer] personally, I have told the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, that these are our conditions because these are the conditions of the American people, and we are resolute on that.
It is not the House’s issue right now. The issue is with the White House and the Senate. And I implore them to do their job because the time is urgent and we do want to do the right thing here.
Earlier that same day, Johnson met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington, DC, where the two men engaged in negotiations over the terms of an aid package.
The Daily Wire reported Tuesday that the Biden White House
recently warned Congress that the $111 billion in supplemental funds previously allocated to Ukraine would soon run out, and Zelensky made another trip to Washington, D.C., this week to make the case for the “significance of sustaining vital U.S. support” for his country’s military and economy.
“Senate Democrats tried to advance a $110 billion national security package, which would provide money for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, and even for bolstering border security, but it failed to clear a 60-vote threshold last week,” The Daily Wire reported.
FOX News added that Biden requested an additional “$61 billion for [Ukraine’s] war effort, but getting it through Congress has proved an uphill battle with Republicans increasingly skeptical of the continued aid to Ukraine.”
