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Post by Webster on Apr 1, 2024 14:46:03 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Johnson floats potential demands to move long-stalled Ukraine aid packageCongress may be out of Washington DC, with lawmakers back in their districts and home states until next week, but there are signs of movement in the long-stalled military aid package for Israel, Ukraine and other national security priorities. Yesterday, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson gave an interview to Fox News where he signaled three demands he may make in order to move the package through the chamber. These were including in the legislation provisions to seize Russian assets and give them to Ukraine, make the aid a loan that Kyiv will pay back at a future date, and roll back Joe Biden’s decision earlier this year to pause new natural gas export projects. The big questions now are: will Democrats, who control the Senate and have already passed a version of the military aid bill, accept Johnson’s asks? What about his fellow Republicans in the House, where there are rumblings of booting Johnson from the job? And what of Donald Trump, who clearly has his eye on the matter – after all, he played a big part in killing an earlier compromise that would have paired the assistance with hardline immigration policies. We’ll see if any answers reveal themselves today.
Mike Johnson’s Fox News interview was significant not just for what he revealed of his demands in order to support aid to Israel and Ukraine, but for comments indicating moving the package will be the first order of business once House lawmakers return to Washington DC. Here’s more on that, from the Guardian’s Richard Luscombe: The US House speaker, Mike Johnson, has raised expectations that a vote on funding for Ukraine could be imminent in the chamber, even at the risk of the Republican losing his leadership position.
Johnson touted “important innovations” to a possible Ukraine package during an interview on Fox News’ Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy, and he suggested a vote on a standalone bill could come soon after Congress returns from Easter recess on 9 April.
But the Louisiana Republican acknowledged forces in his party were trying to unseat him over his efforts to find a bipartisan solution to stalled US funding for Ukraine’s efforts to repel Russia’s military invasion, which began in February 2022. The far-right extremist Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a motion to remove Johnson in March, but she stopped short of calling it for a floor vote.
The White House, meanwhile, has warned that delays are costing Ukraine lives and territory because Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, “gains every day” Congress does not pass a funding measure. “What we have to do in an era of divided government, historically, as we are, you got to build consensus. If we want to move a partisan measure, I got to have every single member, literally. And some things need to be bipartisan,” Johnson said, acknowledging the shrinking Republican majority in the House.
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Post by Webster on Apr 1, 2024 14:48:42 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Mike Johnson has signaled that House Republicans plan to take aim at a Biden administration policy announced in January that is intended to address the climate crisis by curbing new exports of natural gas. Here’s more on the policy, which is also the target of a lawsuit by Republican-governed states, from the Guardian’s Oliver Milman: Joe Biden’s administration has hit the brakes on the US’s surging exports of gas, effectively pausing a string of planned projects that have been decried by environmentalists as carbon “mega bombs” that risk pushing the world further towards climate breakdown.
On Friday, the White House announced that it was pausing all pending export permits for liquified natural gas (LNG) until the Department of Energy could come up with an updated criteria for approvals that consider the impact of climate change.
The pause, which will likely last beyond November’s presidential election, could imperil the future of more than a dozen gas export terminals that have been planned for the Gulf of Mexico coast. According to one analysis, if all proposed LNG projects go ahead and ship gas overseas, it will result in 3.2bn tons of greenhouse gases – equivalent to the entire emissions of the European Union.
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Post by Webster on Apr 2, 2024 16:22:59 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Congress has some unfinished business to deal with when it returns to Washington DC next week, in the form of a military aid package for Israel, Ukraine and other US allies. It’s been held up by Republicans in the House, some of whom are opposed to further aid to Kyiv, and the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports that the Senate’s top Republican has signaled he will make overcoming these holdouts a priority: Mitch McConnell will spend the rest of his time in the US Senate “fighting” isolationists in his own Republican party, the longtime GOP leader said on Monday.
“I’m particularly involved in actually fighting back against the isolationist movement in my own party,” McConnell told WHAS, a radio station in his state, Kentucky. “And some in the other as well. And the symbol of that lately is: are we going to help Ukraine or not? I’ve got this sort of on my mind for the next couple years as something I’m going to focus on.”
McConnell, 82, has led Republicans in the Senate for 17 years. In March, he said he would step down at the end of this year, after an election in which Republicans have a good chance of retaking the chamber.
McConnell assured his decision to step down was not related to recent health scares and said he would stay to the end of his term in 2027.
Isolationism has surged in the Republican party under Donald Trump, president between 2017 and 2021 and the presumptive nominee again for November’s election.
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Post by Webster on Apr 2, 2024 16:28:18 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Apr 5, 2024 13:26:52 GMT -5
(The Guardian) No mention of Israel in letter from Democratic leader Schumer on 'Senate's busy agenda'There will be plenty to do when senators return to Washington DC next week from their two-week recess, ranging from dealing with the impeachment of homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to confirming federal judges, the Senate’s Democratic leader Chuck Schumer wrote today in a letter to lawmakers. But one issue is conspicuously absent from Schumer’s message on the Senate’s “busy agenda”: any mention of Israel, or Joe Biden’s still-pending request for $14bn in military assistance to America’s closest Middle Eastern ally. It was the latest sign of the evolving politics among Democrats over whether to fund Israel’s invasion of Gaza, as Biden faces a sustained campaign of protests over his administration’s support, and outrage boils over the killing of seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen earlier this week. Schumer instead sticks to emphasizing the importance of approving aid to Ukraine, an issue around which Democrats are far more united. The Senate passed legislation authorizing aid to Kyiv, Israel and other US allies in February, but Republican House speaker Mike Johnson has yet to act on it. Here’s what Schumer wrote: Off the floor, we will continue to keep pressure on the House to act on the Senate-passed national security supplemental that would provide desperately needed funding to Ukraine in their fight against Putin. The Senate bill has sat on Speaker Johnson’s desk for more than 50 days. The longer that the national security supplemental sits on Speaker Johnson’s desk, the more desperate the situation in Ukraine becomes. I have spoken with Speaker Johnson, and I believe that he understands the threat of further delaying the national security supplemental. However, Speaker Johnson has to ultimately decide for himself whether or not he will do the right thing for Ukraine, for America and for democracy around the world or if he’ll allow the extreme MAGA wing of his party to hand Vladimir Putin a victory.
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Post by Webster on Apr 9, 2024 13:22:01 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Pressure mounts on Johnson over Ukraine aid as ouster threat loomsThe House returns today after a two-week Easter recess as the speaker, Mike Johnson, faces mounting pressure to advance a Ukraine aid package and the threat of an intra-party revolt if he does so. Johnson has indicated the House will take up the issue of Ukraine funding this week, but many hard-right members of his conference remain staunchly opposed to additional Ukraine aid and the Georgia congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, has already introduced a motion-to-vacate resolution, all but daring Johnson to move forward with a Ukraine aid bill so she can force a vote on the matter. Speaking to CNN last week, Greene said: I’m not saying I have a red line or a trigger, and I’m not saying I don’t have a red line or trigger. But I’m going to tell you right now: funding Ukraine is probably one of the most egregious things that he can do.Meanwhile, the UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, is scheduled to meet with secretary of state Antony Blinken and congressional lawmakers in Washington over the next two days. Ahead of his meeting with Blinken, Cameron took the unusual and potentially risky step of traveling to see Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, in the hopes of persuading the presumptive Republican presidential candidate to drop his opposition to Ukraine aid deal that is being held up in Congress partly on Trump’s instruction.
As the House adjourned last month, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, vowed that the chamber would soon “take the necessary steps to address the supplemental funding request”, which includes money for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The Senate passed a $95bn foreign aid package in February, but Johnson indicated that the House would consider an amended proposal when members return to Washington. Johnson told Fox News last Sunday: We’ve been talking to all the members, especially now over the district work period. When we return after this work period, we’ll be moving a product, but it’s going to, I think, have some important innovations. Those innovations might include sending money to Kyiv as a loan or redirecting Russian assets seized under the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (Repo) for Ukrainians Act. But even those changes are unlikely to sway the most vocal Ukraine skeptics in the House Republican conference, such as the congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
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Post by Webster on Apr 9, 2024 13:33:21 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Even as Johnson faces a challenge from the hard-right flank of his conference, other House Republicans insist the chamber must take action to assist Ukraine. They warn that further inaction, after months of ignoring the White House’s demands to approve more funding, will only embolden the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Congressman Mike Turner, the Republican chair of the House intelligence committee, told CBS News last Sunday: We are at a critical juncture on the ground that is beginning to be able to impact not only morale of the Ukrainians that are fighting, but also their ability to fight. Putin knows this. This is obviously an area where we cannot allow Putin to win.Johnson already has two legislative options to approve more money for Ukraine, the Senate-approved package and a smaller $66bn bill introduced by a bipartisan group of House members. The second proposal would provide military-only funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, omitting the $10bn for humanitarian aid included in the Senate bill. The House legislation also outlines a number of border security provisions, a bid to sway some Republican members who are otherwise wary of sending more money to Kyiv. Congressman Mike Lawler, a Republican of New York and one of the House bill’s co-sponsors, told CNN last Sunday: I am hopeful that the speaker will put the bill on the floor or an amended version of the bill on the floor so that we can once and for all ensure that our allies have the aid and support that they need.
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Post by Webster on Apr 9, 2024 13:35:57 GMT -5
(The Guardian) While Johnson weighs his legislative options to approve more money for Ukraine, the specter of the motion to vacate looms in the background. If congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia follows through on her threat to force a vote on Johnson’s removal, the House must take up the matter within two legislative days. Johnson will then need the support of a majority of members to keep his job, and because of a recent string of Republican resignations, he can only afford to lose two votes within his conference. As of now, few Republicans appear eager to revisit the spectacle of last fall, when the conference’s repeated failures to elect a new speaker ground the House to a complete halt for weeks.
Some centrist Democrats have already indicated they will not allow Greene to let the chamber descend into chaos, especially if she forces the motion to vacate vote over the issue of Ukraine funding. Congressman Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat of Florida, posted to Twitter/X last month: I do not support Speaker Johnson but I will never stand by and let [Greene] … take over the people’s House. The House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, previously told the New York Times that he expected “a reasonable number” of his caucus members would come to Johnson’s assistance if his speakership was imperiled because of a vote on Ukraine aid. But one of the leading House progressives, congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, has argued that Democrats’ support for Johnson should come with some legislative strings attached. Ocasio-Cortez recently told CNN: My vote would most likely be for a Speaker Jeffries, which becomes an increasingly likely reality day after day as Republicans pursue further midterm resignation. But I think, for those of us and for any Democrat inclined, I don’t think we do that for free.
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Post by Webster on Apr 9, 2024 13:43:40 GMT -5
(The Guardian) David Cameron meets Trump amid push to shore up Ukraine supportThe UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, has taken the unusual and potentially risky step of travelling to see Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida before a visit to Washington DC on Tuesday. Cameron was hoping to persuade the presumptive Republican presidential candidate to drop his opposition to a new package of aid for Ukraine that is being held up in Congress partly on Trump’s instruction. It is Cameron’s second visit to the US to try to convince Republicans that it is in America’s national interest for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, not to make any further military advances in Ukraine. In a statement on Monday, a UK Foreign Office spokesperson played down the rarity of a Conservative foreign secretary trying to persuade a Republican not to make concessions to Russia over the future of Europe. The Foreign Office said it was “standard practice for ministers to meet opposition candidates as part of their routine international engagement”. Although Conservative politicians have met Trump, as has his great ally Nigel Farage, Monday’s meeting was the first between a senior UK minister and Trump since he left office insisting that the presidential election had been stolen from him.
The risk is that past bad blood between David Cameron and Donald Trump over issues such as Brexit have poisoned the well, and Cameron, for all his persuasive skills, is not the British political leader most likely to make Trump change his mind and drop his opposition to a new Ukraine aid package. Trump has said he can negotiate a peace deal on Ukraine in 24 hours. His allies say the deal will involve ceding Crimea and the Donbas region to Russia, formalizing the land grab that Vladimir Putin started in 2014 and continued with the full-scale invasion in 2022. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Sunday that Ukraine would lose the war if US aid was withheld and Ukrainian air cover not improved. “Success for Ukraine and failure for [Vladimir] Putin are vital for American and European security,” Cameron said before his trip. This will show that borders matter, that aggression doesn’t pay and that countries like Ukraine are free to choose their own future. The alternative would only encourage Putin in further attempts to redraw European borders by force, and would be heard clearly in Beijing, Tehran and North Korea. Earlier this year, he warned Congress not to show “the weakness displayed against Hitler” in the 1930s. Cameron is also arguing that Ukraine has shown time and again that if it is given the resources it can succeed and would be ready to “go on the offensive” in 2025. Aware that Trump believes Europe does not pull its weight in defending itself, Cameron is armed with statistics to show more than $184bn (£145bn) has already been committed to Ukraine by European nations including more than $15bn (nearly £12bn) from the UK.
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Post by Webster on Apr 9, 2024 13:44:33 GMT -5
(The Guardian) David Cameron is scheduled to hold talks with the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, in Washington on Tuesday. Although they have much to discuss covering the future of Nato, China and a possible ceasefire in Gaza, the foreign secretary’s key goal is to shift Republican thinking in Congress on the relevance of the threat posed by Russia to American interests. A steady stream of European politicians have travelled to Washington on similar missions, only to return frustrated at the growing US indifference to Ukraine’s fate. The Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, has so far declined to allow the Ukraine aid issue onto the floor of the Congress, but has indicated he might do so next week when Congress returns from recess. In February, the speaker refused to consider a Senate-passed foreign aid package that would have included $60bn for Ukraine because it lacked measures relating to security on the US-Mexico border. A key test for Cameron’s trip is whether he gains meetings with the swing Republican congressmen including Johnson. At present no meeting with Johnson is slated for Tuesday. Talks will also focus on the Middle East, with the foreign secretary expected to set out the UK’s reasoning for not suspending arms sales to Israel.
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Post by Webster on Apr 9, 2024 16:25:43 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Blinken and Cameron to hold joint press conferenceThe UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, and the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, are due to hold a joint press conference at 11:15am ET following talks in Washington about support for Ukraine and bringing stability to the Middle East. Cameron also met with Donald Trump ahead of his meeting with Blinken in an attempt to persuade the presumptive Republican presidential candidate to drop his opposition to a new package of aid for Ukraine that is being held up in Congress partly on Trump’s instruction.
Donald Trump and David Cameron discussed “the need for Nato countries to meet their defense spending requirements” during a dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Monday, Trump’s campaign said in a statement. The pair discussed “the upcoming US and UK elections, policy matters specific to Brexit, the need for Nato countries to meet their defense spending requirements, and ending the killing in Ukraine,” the presumptive Republican nominee’s campaign said.
Antony Blinken begins the news conference by saying he and Britain’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, reaffirmed the imperative of continuing to support and help Ukraine defend itself against the ongoing Russian aggression. The secretary of state says the UK has been an “extraordinary leader” in the effort to support Ukraine from day one, including by imposing sanctions and export controls on Russia. Blinken says he and Cameron discussed ways to strengthen efforts to prevent the transfer of weapons and materials to Russia for use in Ukraine. “This is an ongoing challenge,” he says. - We see weapons and technologies to support the defense industrial base in Russia coming from North Korea from Iran from China. This is an area of particular concern for not only the United States and the United Kingdom, but many of our allies and partners throughout Europe.
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Post by Webster on Apr 9, 2024 16:29:31 GMT -5
(The Guardian) 'Imperative' for US House to pass Ukraine aid, says BlinkenBlinken says it is “imperative” now that the House is back in session to get a vote on Ukraine aid “as quickly as possible”. The supplemental budget request that President Biden has made to Congress is “urgent”, he says. Blinken says there has been genuine burden-sharing among the US and European and international allies in terms of support for Ukraine. “We need to continue to do our part,” he says.
The defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, speaking during a Senate armed services committee hearing, said pressure on Israel to improve humanitarian aid to Gaza appears to be working, but that more must be done. Austin said: It clearly had an effect. We have seen changes in behavior, and we have seen more humanitarian assistance being pushed into Gaza. Hopefully that trend will continue. -- During the meeting, a number of senators decried the civilian casualties in Gaza and called on the administration to press Israel to protect the population in the Palestinian territory.Austin said he spoke with his Israeli counterpart, the defense minister, Yoav Gallant, on Monday and that he repeated US insistence that Israel must move civilians out of the battle space in Gaza and properly care for them.
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Post by Webster on Apr 17, 2024 14:11:45 GMT -5
(The Guardian) House Republicans spar over foreign aid bill as Senate Democrats plot to crush Mayorkas impeachmentWednesday could finally see the publication of speaker Mike Johnson’s long-awaited plan to save his job, quell Republican infighting and advance urgent foreign aid for Israel and Ukraine. There’s been plenty of talk, and little action so far, on how the Republican leader plans to present solutions for the funding impasse that has further highlighted fractures in his divided caucus. Any misstep could trigger a “motion to vacate” by rebel-rousers Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie, and potentially see Johnson’s departure from the speaker’s chair, unless Democrats step in to save him. Republican dysfunction overshadows Ukraine funding effortThe Republican infighting that has both stalled and overshadowed efforts to pass funding packages for Israel and Ukraine is still raging today, as speaker Mike Johnson clings to his job in the face of a growing rightwing rebellion. So far, there’s no sign of a formal plan for the urgently needed aid as Johnson mulls his best approach. Kentucky extremist Thomas Massie on Tuesday gave his support to a threat by Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene to invoke a “motion to vacate” if Johnson follows through with a plan to tie tens of billions of dollars in funding for Ukraine to money for Israel and Taiwan. But standalone bills, which Johnson is also said to be considering, won’t cut it in the Democratic-controlled Senate, or with Joe Biden, who has indicated he won’t sign anything other than an all-in-one package. And a number of Republican congress members insist they cannot support anything that would help Ukraine unless legislation includes money for strengthening the border. It’s a delicate dance, with no predictable outcome. Johnson, who can only afford to lose two Republican votes in any push to remove him, says he won’t resign, calling moves to oust him “absurd”. Meanwhile, some Democrats are ready to step in to try to save him. Florida congressman Jared Moskowitz is among those who says he’s ready to keep Johnson in place in any House vote in order to secure the advancement of US aid for overseas allies.
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Post by Webster on Apr 17, 2024 14:23:55 GMT -5
(The Guardian) House to vote Saturday on foreign aid packagesSpeaker Mike Johnson has announced the House will vote on Saturday evening on a foreign aid package, including money for Ukraine and Israel. It looks like Congress members will vote on three separate bills, CNN’s chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju reports, even though their text has not yet been released. “After significant member feedback and discussion, the House rules committee will be posting soon today the text of three bills that will fund America’s national security interests and allies in Israel, the Indo-Pacific, and Ukraine, including a loan structure for aid, and enhanced strategy and accountability,” a message from Johnson to colleagues states. Senate Democrats, and Joe Biden, have said they will not accept standalone bills, although Republican sources have said Johnson could wrap up whatever passes the House into a single package.
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Post by Webster on Apr 17, 2024 14:58:54 GMT -5
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