The $95 billion House foreign aid bill passed Saturday has important accountability features unlike the Senate’s blank check, says House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
"It provides for greater accountability over Ukraine aid, it forces an end game strategy for the Ukraine war, it includes a loan instrument of this foreign aid to Ukraine and the REPO act to ensure that Russian assets pay for part of the bill; and unlike the Senate’s bill, the loan system itself is a house innovation and allows for much needed insight," Johnson said Saturday just moments after the legislation passed.
"And remember that 80% of the Ukrainian funding will go to the replenishment of American weapons and stocks and our facilities and our operations. It also includes tough measures and sanctions on Iran and Russia and China, which most of the American people understand is a necessity and a very important thing.
"Our process in the end ensured that each member was able to consider the individual supplemental elements on their own merits, which is exactly how the house is supposed to work. I know there are critics of the legislation; I understand that it is not a perfect piece of legislation. We’re not ensured that in a time of divided government and in a time where there are lots of different opinions, but there's no question whatsoever that the House has made many strong improvements to the Senate bill, and the product that we've sent over there is much better," he added.
The package was broken down into separate bills.
A majority of Republican members — 112 — voted against aid to Ukraine, with one member voting "present."
Thirty-seven Democrats voted against aid to Israel.
Three House Republicans have backed an effort to oust Johnson over the bill. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who filed a procedural tool known as a motion to vacate to remove Johnson, on Saturday said she didn’t support him.
"This is the third betrayal by Mike Johnson," she told reporters.
"He delivered a two-part omnibus, funded the Department of Justice, 91 federal indictments against President Trump, funded the FBI that raided Mar-a-Lago, gave Joe Biden a brand-new FBI building, funded his open border policies that are killing Americans every single day. Then he [Speaker Johnson] reauthorized FISA that spied on American citizens, spied on President Trump’s campaign, and he voted against the warrant requirement, the same warrant requirement that he supported six months ago. The Foreign war package does nothing for America. It’s unbelievable. I’m thankful that the American people get to see who this man is. Because this is the only way it’s going to change. People have to see the truth."
Johnson said the foreign aid bill "includes national security priorities. He also attempted to squash misinformation about any funding to Hamas or to terrorist organizations.
"We put safeguards in the legislation to ensure that UNWRA is not funded, the UN [Relief and Works Agency] that included terrorists who participated in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. We also have language that prevents any of the funding from going to Hamas or any other bad actor. "That's a very important element of oversight," he added.
"Congress takes the oversight very seriously and we will continue to keep an eye on every dollar that that we are using and investing at this time. I said it very simply, I'll say it once again. It's an old military adage, but we would rather send bullets to the conflict overseas than our own boys, our troops, and I think this is an important moment, an important opportunity to make that decision. We allowed the House to do that and I expect the Senate will make the same decision."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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