The Republican leader of the House of Representatives refused any vote on the latest Ukraine aid bill on Tuesday, ignoring Joe Biden’s earlier call for his opponents to “choose America.” against Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
The rejection of the Republican “speaker” comes, as Joe Biden feared, to torpedo the envelope, although approved on Tuesday by the Senate, the upper house of Congress, with a Democratic majority.
Close to Donald Trump, Joe Biden’s likely competitor in the November presidential election, Mike Johnson told the press that he did not even intend to authorize a vote on the bill.
“Certainly not,” he blurted.
The US Senate on Tuesday approved a new envelope of 95 billion dollars for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but its final adoption depends on the supporters of the former Republican president in the House – who currently refuse to examine the text.
“I say to House Republicans: You have to choose. Will you defend freedom or side with terror and tyranny? Will you be with Ukraine or with Putin? Will you choose America or Trump? » said the Democratic president during a speech at the White House.
In the middle of an election year, the issue has turned into a standoff between Joe Biden and Donald Trump — two candidates who are expected to face each other again in November.
“Idiot and unworthy”
The 81-year-old Democrat, in his speech on Tuesday, crushed his rival’s recent comments on NATO. On Saturday, the former president affirmed that he would “encourage” Russia to attack the countries of the defense alliance if they did not pay their share.
“It’s stupid, it’s undignified, it’s dangerous, it’s un-American,” proclaimed Joe Biden. He believes (NATO) is a racketeering system. He does not understand that NATO is based on fundamental principles of freedom, security and sovereignty. »
“For Trump, principles do not count, everything is bargainable,” said the American president.
Rain of criticism
The fact remains that the Republican Party has already put itself in battle order behind the former president. In the Senate, with a Democratic majority, several Republicans voted for aid to Ukraine, which allowed the adoption of the text by qualified majority.
But it’s a completely different matter in the House of Representatives, with a Republican majority.
Its president, Mike Johnson, a loyal ally of Donald Trump, refuses even to examine the text.
“National security starts with border security,” he said Tuesday.
The Republicans are demanding that aid to Ukraine be coupled with a tightening of migration policy, in a context of record arrivals at the border with Mexico.
“As Trump suggested”
A compromise text to this effect was recently presented to the Senate. But the conservatives ultimately rejected it, saying it was not firm enough.
It’s hard not to see the influence of Donald Trump there. The billionaire, who made illegal immigration a major campaign theme, does not intend to give Joe Biden a political victory in the middle of an election year.
The adoption of the text in the Senate was nevertheless welcomed on Tuesday by the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, who said he was “grateful” to the American senators.
“For us, in Ukraine, continued American aid helps save human lives from Russian terror” at a time when “we are fighting for freedom, democracy,” he declared on X.
The resumption of military assistance to Ukraine, interrupted since the end of December, depends on this text negotiated in Congress.
The Democrats are, in the vast majority, in favor. The Republicans are divided between interventionist hawks, pro-Ukraine, and lieutenants of Donald Trump, who are much more isolationist.
On Monday evening, Senator Lindsey Graham, until now one of the first Republican supporters of aid to Ukraine, announced that he would ultimately oppose the adoption of the new tranche of aid, preferring to instead a system of loans… “as President Trump suggested”.
An illustration among many others of the overwhelming influence of the Republican candidate in Congress.
