Aides to President Joe Biden have been privately working behind the scenes to ensure House Speaker Mike Johnson can put a $60 billion aid package for Ukraine up for a vote — and survive it politically.
The White House has maintained contact with Johnson’s office about Ukraine aid throughout Congress’s two-week recess, according to two administration officials. And while the president has publicly pressured House Republicans to pass the Ukraine aid package, he and his team have held off on aggressively attacking the speaker over the drawn-out process for getting it passed. Instead, they’ve sought to give Johnson breathing room as he leads a fractious GOP caucus with an ever-shrinking majority.
For all their frustration with the painstakingly slow pace in the House, administration officials are privately hopeful their approach could result in Congress starting to move on an aid package later this month.
Biden's team has been quietly backchanneling with Mike Johnson to push for Ukraine aid - POLITICO
Lol...The Senate bill would have passed if Johnson grew some balls and put it to a floor vote, there is no pleasing the lunatics in House like MTG and they'll vote against any bill put forward so I don't really see how Biden's aides can help Johnson to avoid that, especially when that banshee hears that Biden has been helping Johnson.
Did we waste months on a Senate bill for nothing?
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While economic aid can be delivered in the form of a loan, military aid is more complex. But there are other reasons Democrats are sour on the idea: A sizable loan would depress Ukraine’s credit rating as it fights a war and, eventually, tries to rebuild. There are also concerns about the new precedent it would set for providing foreign aid.
Ian Bremmer, the president of the Eurasia Group, who is in frequent touch with members of the administration, said the notion of making Ukraine repay the aid money as a loan was “a little silly and simplistic,” especially given that the country will have to spend billions rebuilding its own infrastructure when the war is over. Beyond that, he said, Congress can’t redirect the $300 billion in seized Russian assets because most of that money is being held in Europe, not the U.S.
“The Europeans are not comfortable seizing these assets at all. They think it sets a horrible precedent, that it will undermine the Euro and that it could face legal jeopardy,” Bremmer said. “And Europe is doing more for Ukraine currently than the United States is, so they just don’t feel the need to go there.”
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Well, lets wait patiently for another few weeks for little Johnson to grow a pair while Ukrainians die.
Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 05 April 2024
