Biden pushes US House Republicans on Ukraine aid amid Trump opposition

© Reuters. U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shake hands across the table during a meeting in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S. September 21, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/file photo

By Steve Holland and Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden and top officials are pushing House Speaker Mike Johnson for a vote on what the White House says is a critically needed funding bill for Ukraine’s war against Russia that is opposed by former President Donald Trump.

Trump’s opposition to the Senate-approved $95.34 billion military aid package for Ukraine and Israel means that it may never be voted on in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. A small group of moderate Republicans said they were working on an alternate version of the bill that might win his support.

The bill will also fund U.S. troops in the Middle East, humanitarian aid in Gaza and defense companies and submarine manufacturing in the United States, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at the White House on Wednesday in a rare press conference.

He laid responsibility for the bill’s future entirely on Johnson, who controls what bills are taken up for a vote. “If that vote comes to the floor … it will pass on an overwhelming bipartisan basis, just as it did in the Senate,” Sullivan said.

It passed the Senate in a 70-29 vote shortly before dawn on Tuesday.

Johnson indicated again on Wednesday he has no immediate plans to allow the chamber to vote on the package, saying “we’re not going to be forced into action by the Senate.”

Ukrainian troops on the front line are already rationing ammunition, Sullivan told reporters on Wednesday. “Each passing day, each passing week the cost of inaction from the United States … is rising,” Sullivan said.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre accused Johnson of being “confused” by his role. “I think the speaker doesn’t understand what his job is. Put that bill to the floor,” she said.

MODERATES SEEK PLAN B

A group of moderate House Republicans on Wednesday said they were working on an alternate bill that would include aid for Ukraine as well as some fresh border-related policies.

Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, the Republican co-chairman of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, told reporters that he and other lawmakers hope to introduce that package within the next 48 hours.

“It’s going to address the existential threats we have. Ukraine needs help, Taiwan needs help and our Border Patrol agents need help,” Fitzpatrick said. “We want to make sure it’s right. We’re not interested in speed here.”

Representative Don Bacon, another Republican centrist, said he is part of the effort.

“We’re working on a bill to do military aid only for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, and remain in Mexico policy,” Bacon said.

He said the focus on military aid only would cut the cost of the Senate bill by 25% to show fiscal responsibility.

In a sign of the growing enmity between the White House and Johnson, Biden’s White House sent out a Valentine’s Day social media post to Johnson on Wednesday afternoon, mocking his decision to block bipartisan border legislation.

“Roses are red, violets are blue, the border deal was crushed, because of you,” said a message on the official White House account on X, formerly Twitter.

Senate Republicans last week blocked a bill that would have coupled aid for Ukraine and other allies with the most sweeping changes to border policy in decades, after Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, loudly criticized that deal, sinking months of bipartisan negotiations.

Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, had praised the deal as the best lawmakers were likely agree on.

Shortly after that vote, hardline Republicans including Johnson resumed their demands that Ukraine aid be conditioned on changes in border policy. Johnson on Tuesday dismissed the prior deal as insufficient.

STATE SUPPORT?

The White House is sending Biden surrogates in coming days to states that would benefit from the funding for American defense companies to make the case that the U.S. economy stands to gain if the package is approved. Several top U.S. officials lobbied for the bill on Wednesday.

Biden national security spokesperson John Kirby (NYSE:KEX) and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pushed for the bill on Wednesday. Current and former national security aides also will participate, a senior administration official said.

Vice President Kamala Harris was expected to make the case for the legislation while on a trip to the Munich Security Conference this week.

Biden, in remarks on Tuesday, said that while the weaponry would help Ukraine, the money would be spent in the United States “in places like Arizona, where the Patriot missiles are built; and Alabama, where the Javelin missiles are built; and Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Texas, where artillery shells are made.”

Biden argued that Russian President Vladimir Putin stood to gain if the money was not approved.

“Supporting this bill is standing up to Putin, opposing it is playing into Putin’s hands,” he said Tuesday.