Ukraine aid could be Biden's first big battle with Johnson | Washington Examiner
By: Washington Examiner
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Joe Biden's first showdown with the new speaker of the House has already begun.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has rejected Biden's $106 billion supplemental funding request, which would have tied money for Israel to money for Ukraine, in favor of an Israel-only bill.
"There are lots of things going on around the world that we have to address, and we will, but right now, what's happening in Israel takes the immediate attention, and I think we've got to separate that and get it through. I believe there'll be bipartisan support for that, and I'm going to push very hard for it," Johnson said on Fox News over the weekend.
The split comes as some conservatives in the House have become skeptical of Ukraine funding that doesn't include a clear end goal for the war, decrying what they describe as a "blank check" policy to date.
However, there are other partisan points at play. Johnson wants to fund $14.3 billion for Israel by cutting a similar amount from the IRS that would have gone to the agency under the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Inflation Reduction Act is one of Biden's signature pieces of legislation since taking office, and the White House hit back hard against the proposal.
"Despite strong bipartisan agreement that the United States must support Israel as it defends itself after the worst terrorist attack in its history, House Republicans are engaging in a dangerous political stunt that for the first time in American history demands emergency national security funding be fully offset," read a memo from White House spokesman Andrew Bates.
Not only that, by cutting IRS funding, the bill would "increase our deficit by actively helping the rich and big corporations cheat on their taxes, forcing more of the tax burden onto middle-class families and working Americans," Bates added.
The Biden administration issued a veto threat on Tuesday night.
Biden's opposition means most, if not all, Democrats in Congress will vote against Johnson's proposal. Even if it passes in the House, the measure faces a tough road in the Senate, which is under Democratic control and features several Ukraine hawks in the GOP ranks.
But the proposal showcases Johnson's conservative bona fides and may presage future showdowns between the two Washington leaders. Biden himself is a strong supporter of Israel, and Johnson is banking that public pressure will weigh more heavily toward Israel than toward the IRS.
Biden's initial ask was for $106 billion to address Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and border security, the latter issue a major point of contention with Republicans. Of that total, $61.4 billion would go to Ukraine and $14.3 billion to Israel, the same figure as in Johnson's proposal. Biden gave a prime-time Oval Office address to make his case for the spending.
"Hamas and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: They both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy," the president said from behind the Resolute Desk. "American leadership is what holds the world together."
There are other sticking points in Biden's proposal. One is roughly $9 million to go toward humanitarian aid in Gaza. Some Republicans, including in the Senate, have argued this money is ill-advised, as it would be co-opted by Hamas.
"Sending aid to the Palestinians in Gaza is akin to funneling aid directly to Hamas," a group of 12 Republican senators wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). "The president's decision to allocate additional funding, in addition to the $100 million in aid previously announced, will inevitably end up in the hands of a genocidal Palestinian terrorist organization that has evidenced its desire to destroy the Jewish state."
But with vocal pressure from the Democratic Party's left wing to back civilians in Gaza, the Biden White House is likely to insist on keeping the aid intact. Pro-Palestinian protesters repeatedly disrupted a Tuesday Senate hearing on Israel funding.
The afternoon White House press briefing was dominated by questions about Israel and Gaza.
"There shouldn't be any political games played with our national security," national security spokesman John Kirby said. "[Johnson's bill] doesn't meet our national security needs. As commander in chief, the president will never do anything that doesn't meet our key national security needs."
In the end, University of California, Los Angeles, global studies lecturer Benjamin Radd predicts both Ukraine and Israel will get their aid.
"On the Republican side, it's a fight over who can be more supportive of Israel, by and large," he said. "Both countries will get their funding. They just have to play this game first."
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These all need to be separate bills. They are separate issues. This will allow better accountability as to where the money is going and how it's being spent.
But no matter how it's looked at, the question needs to be ask about where this money is coming from. Remember there was nearly a government shut down over funding a month or so ago. Can't say its because funding for the IRS is being cut. That was in place before all this happened with Biden's failing Inflation Reduction Act. So, where is the money for all this coming from?
Perhaps from the blood sweat and tears of the American blue-collar worker? [for generations to come?]
I agree. From what I've been reading, the Biden administration cannot account for tens/hundreds of millions of our taxpayer money they sent to Ukraine and cannot itemize those expenditures. When I was running a district or region in the companies where I was employed, I would have been fired if I couldn't account for every dollar I spent.
Overall, all branches of our government must be held accountable and detail their expenditures.
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For both sides this is nothing more than political grandstanding. Both Ukraine and Israel will get their funding in the end. Biden may have to eat some of the IRS funding though it may not be the $14B Johnson has in the current bill.
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This is a master class in how to get nothing done. Extremism is paralyzing this country. Politics is about making deals, not digging in your heels and pouting until you get what only you want. Yes, Republicans control the House, but Democrats control the Senate and the White House. The revulsion we see for deal-making from the Freedom Caucus reminds me of Hamas.
And taking money from the IRS is just dumb. If you really care about balancing our books, the money for IRS addresses that concern. It makes no sense to keep the IRS understaffed and mired in obsolete technologies and practices, while complaining that we don’t have enough income. Income is what the IRS does. An efficient IRS is a critical tool for increasing revenue. The CBO estimated that increasing funding to the IRS by $80 Billion would increase revenue $200 Billion. Why would you throw that away?