House Speaker Johnson Proposes $95B Foreign Aid Bill

Facts

• The US House voted 316-94 on Friday to send Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) proposed $95B foreign aid and military package to the floor for an official vote. Votes in favor included 165 Democrats and 151 Republicans.¹
• The bill for Ukraine is worth about $60B, of which $15.8B is tabled for security assistance such as weapons and training. $20.5B is for the broader European Command operations, $13.4B to replenish US stockpiles, and $9.5B in forgivable loans to Kyiv.²
• Another bill would give $26.4B to Israel, $9.1B of which is set for humanitarian assistance, per the Democrats' request. Another bill consists of $8.1B to counter China in the Indo-Pacific region, including billions for Taiwan.³
• The fourth and final bill in the package includes more sanctions on Russia as well as taking $5B in frozen Russian assets and giving them to Ukraine. This bill also includes sanctions on Iranian oil shipments and other Iran-backed groups, such as Hamas.⁴
• The chamber-wide procedural vote came after the Rules Committee approved the package Thursday night. While right-leaning Republicans Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), and Chip Roy (R-Texas) voted against it, Democrats took Johnson's side.⁵
• The bills will go to the house floor on Saturday for debate and amendment votes. While 55 Republicans voted against it, senior Democrats seem in its favor. Massie has now signed onto Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Ga.) motion to oust Speaker Johnson.¹

Sources: ¹FOX News, ²wsj.com, ³CBS, ⁴New York Post and ⁵Guardian.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by wsj.com. Mike Johnson is finally ignoring this small group of dissident Republicans to pass legislation that most lawmakers and their constituents want. This group began their case by asking for reasonable procedural changes to keep the speaker from having too much power, but now they're using the same tyranny-of-the-minority tactics to block America from defending its allies against terrorists and dictators. The country will now get its long-desired security legislation.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by AntiWar. There are no political parties in America — just a corrupt group of warmongering neocons with neoliberal ideology obsessed with creating wars via unaffordable legislation. Not only will this bill push US debt closer to the estimated $140 trillion by 2054, but it's also absolutely unnecessary. Even if they wanted to — and they don't — Russia, China, and Iran combined couldn't make a dent in NATO's military capacity. The Republican Party should be dissolved and replaced with a Freedom and Peace Party.

Predictions