[Salon] $95 Billion Foreign War Bills Move Toward House Vote

[Chas Freeman <cwfresidence@gmail.com>]

FM: John Whitbeck

The article transmitted below describes the legislation to finance and prolong the current wars against Russia and Palestine and to prepare for and potentially provoke a war against China which are expected to be passed today by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Conceptually, voting separately on "aid" to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan makes sense. The Biden administration originally and cynically packaged them all together on the assumption that the aid to Ukraine might not pass on its own "merits" but that few members of Congress would dare to vote against providing any amount of tribute to Israel. Now, since different coalitions of House members appear to constitute majorities supporting each of these three war financing measures, they will be voted on separately and then "automatically stitched back together into a single package" for consideration by the Senate.

A separate bill permitting the U.S. government to steal Russian assets in the U.S. and provide the proceeds to Ukraine will presumably also be passed. If this act of financial piracy were to be implemented, Russia could be expected to respond by confiscating American or other NATO-member assets in Russia of a comparable value so as to discourage European governments, which have frozen substantially more Russian assets than those frozen in the United States, from emulating this American act of lawlessness.

https://news.antiwar.com/2024/04/19/95-billion-foreign-war-bills-move-toward-house-vote/

$95 Billion Foreign War Bills Move Toward House Vote

The omnibus legislation was stalled for months in the Capitol due to Republican opposition.

by Will Porter

 

A massive military aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan has cleared a major hurdle in Congress and is headed for a floor vote as early as Saturday. House Speaker Mike Johnson has come under intense pressure from Democrats to advance the bills, and faces a revolt from within his own party as dissident Republicans threaten to oust him from his position.

 

A procedural vote to consider the aid package – composed of separate bills for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan worth a combined $95.3 billion – sailed through the House 316-94. The measure passed with bipartisan support, despite opposition from a group of Republicans.

 

The aid under consideration includes nearly $61 billion for Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel, and another $8 billion for Taiwan and other US partners in the Indo-Pacific. However, the Taiwan bill contains provisions that would allow the White House to simply redirect funds to Kiev, as noted by GOP Rep. Andy Ogles.

 

While Speaker Johnson previously refused to allow the legislation to proceed unless Democrats agreed to significant border reforms, he appears to have reversed course in recent days, drawing criticism from fellow Republicans.

 

“I’m concerned that the speaker’s cut a deal with the Democrats to fund foreign wars rather than secure our border,” said libertarian-leaning Rep. Thomas Massie, who has threatened to support a motion to remove Johnson from the speakership over the move.

 

Originally packaged together by the Democrat-led Senate, Johnson later split the House version into separate aid bills, none of which included the immigration reforms sought by his party. A fourth bill that would effectively ban the Chinese-owned video-sharing platform TikTok – as well as allow Washington to hand Kiev large sums of frozen Russian assets sitting in US bank accounts – is also up for consideration along with the aid.

 

“This was all precooked. It’s why President Biden and Chuck Schumer are praising it,” Republican Rep. Chip Roy said, suggesting the House speaker had worked behind the scenes with Democrats to advance the aid to a floor vote.

 

The White House and Democratic leadership have repeatedly urged the House to approve the aid, with President Biden stressing that nearly two-thirds of the Ukraine funds would go back into the US arms industry, effectively selling the bill as a jobs program.

 

Johnson has explained that while the Ukraine bill is not “perfect,” it is the “best possible product” given the GOP’s thin majority in the House. He defended the measure during a recent interview, insisting that “Ukrainians desperately need lethal aid right now.”

 

A number of Republican lawmakers led by Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene have threatened to remove Johnson from the speakership should he continue to ignore their concerns, with Greene filing a “motion to vacate” that has yet to be called up for a vote. Massie, as well as GOP Reps. Paul Gosar and Eli Crane, have also signaled support for the move.

 

Should the four separate bills pass, they would be “automatically stitched back together into a single package” for consideration in the Senate, according to the Associated Press. The upper chamber already passed an earlier version of the aid bill, suggesting the latest iteration would face little opposition once it clears the House.