House Speaker Mike Johnson is blocking a $95 billion emergency foreign aid bill, saying he’s in “no rush” to take up the legislation the Senate overwhelmingly approved last week.
The bill — opposed by many conservatives due to its exclusion of desired security measures at the US-Mexico border — would provide about $60 billion in badly needed aid for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s nearly two-year-long invasion.
The legislation would also give $14.1 billion in military funding to Israel, $9.2 billion for humanitarian efforts in Gaza, and $8 billion for Taiwan and Indo-Pacific allies to deter Chinese aggression.
While supporters of the legislation say it’s needed urgently to help Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal also points out that the bill would benefit the US economy.
Over the past two years, the US defense industry has seen a surge in demand for weapons and munitions, with European countries looking to boost their military operations and the Pentagon purchasing new equipment, according to the Journal.
Officials in President Joe Biden’s administration said that 64% of the roughly $60 billion appropriated for Ukraine in the Senate-passed bill would reach the US defense industrial base, the Journal reported.
Lael Brainard, the director of the White House National Economic Council, told the Journal in a recent interview that the impact on the US economy would be significant.
“That’s one of the things that is misunderstood … how important that funding is for employment and production around the country,” she told the newspaper.
The Journal reported that the $95 billion in aid, in addition to money from previous packages, can “inject funds worth about 0.5% of one year’s gross domestic product into the US industrial defense base” in upcoming years.
It remains unclear when or if the House will take up the Senate bill. Former President Donald Trump also opposes it and is the likely GOP presidential nominee. Trump in recent weeks also helped tank a bipartisan bill that would have tightened the US asylum system, among other measures.
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