House Speaker Johnson to introduce 4 separate bills for foreign aid, sending nearly $90 billion to Ukraine and Israel

04/18/2024 / By Ramon Tomey

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) reportedly plans to introduce four separate bills for foreign aid instead of one omnibus proposal, according to a report by NTD News.

The top lawmaker at the lower chamber of Congress unveiled this four-pronged plan on April 15, ostensibly to furnish financial aid to both Israel and Ukraine and to address other geopolitical issues. The issue of funding for Israel and Ukraine has divided Republican legislators in the lower house.

According to NTD News, the four-part plan includes three separate financial assistance packages – one for Ukraine, another for Israel and another for Taiwan. The fourth bill would reportedly include a ban on Chinese video-sharing app TikTok and the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians (REPO) Act. The REPO Act would allow Washington to seize some assets belonging to Russian oligarchs to help bankroll Kyiv’s war against Moscow.

At least two of Johnson’s GOP colleagues put in their two cents on the proposal. Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hearn expressed his “100 percent” support of the speaker. “This is about the Indo-Pacific, it’s about Taiwan, Ukraine and Israel – and some other national security issues,” he told reporters.

However, the congressman for the Sooner State won’t be committing his support immediately. Hearn remarked that he would wait until he sees the actual text of the proposals before doing so.

Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs applauded Johnson for splitting the aid packages into four distinct proposals instead of merging them into one. “I like that it’s separate bills,” he said.

The congressman for the Grand Canyon State also mentioned that he doesn’t expect to see border security attached to the funding packages, an issue that has been a key concern for many GOP lawmakers. Incidentally, Biggs is also an opponent of additional funding for Ukraine.

MTG denounces Johnson’s proposal as a “scam”

However, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene – a more vocal opponent of further funding for Kyiv – blasted the speaker’s proposal. “I am firmly against the plan as it stands right now. This is such a scam and people are so done with it,” she told reporters.

Greene did not say whether she would pursue an activation of her standing motion to vacate against Johnson in response to the latter’s announcement. The congresswoman for the Peach State recently called on the lower house’s leader to step down from his post.

“No additional details are available on either the top line costs that Johnson will pursue,” NTD News pointed out. It added that details of the proposed measure to ban TikTok “are also sparse.”

According to the news outlet, the four proposals come in the wake of an unprecedented direct attack launched by Iran against Israel. Tehran has claimed that the attack was in retaliation for Tel Aviv’s strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria, which killed generals of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iran’s attack “prompted a new sense of urgency” among many lawmakers to pursue another aid package with Israel in mind. But Congress has struggled for months to find a path forward on foreign aid. This is because many Republicans in both chambers support Israel funding, but not for Ukraine.

“Three earlier packages to fund Israel – including one originating in the Senate and two originating in the House – have failed to advance to the president’s desk due to partisan and intra-party disputes.” (Related: BETRAYAL: Senate approves $95.3 billion aid package for Israel and Ukraine with nothing for U.S. border security.)

Moreover, an earlier bill passed by the GOP-controlled House with regard to TikTok would force its parent company ByteDance to divest its subsidiary or face a ban in the United States. This measure was tackled during a hearing in March, which saw Singaporean TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testify before Congress.

That bill, however, has not been taken up by the Senate. The speaker’s move to attach the REPO Act to the TikTok ban is likely a ploy to prompt the upper chamber into backing the measure.

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Watch Kentucky Rep. Rand Paul denouncing House Speaker Mike Johnson for “siding with Democrats” in this Fox News interview.

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