Lawmakers unveil bipartisan bill combining Ukraine aid and border security
by Mychael Schnell and Mike Lillis - 02/16/24 11:17 AM ET
A bipartisan group of moderate House lawmakers unveiled an emergency funding bill Friday that includes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in addition to border security policy, as centrists seek another option for helping U.S. allies after Republicans threw cold water on the foreign aid package passed by the Senate earlier in the week.
The proposal is designed to break the months-long impasse over military aid for Kyiv — amid warnings that Ukrainian forces are running low on weapon supplies — by marrying it to the tougher border security measures demanded by House conservatives and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who has refused to stage a vote on the Senate-passed bill.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), who helped negotiate the package, said he would have voted for the $95 billion Senate bill, which won the support of 70 senators, including 22 Republicans. But he acknowledged that Johnson is facing difficult terrain in the House, and he offered his proposal as the compromise that could end the long stalemate.
“The Speaker’s got to manage the conference. He’s doing the best he can to do,” Fitzpatrick said.
“But I also think it’s incumbent upon members that, if there’s not successful progress on time-sensitive existential matters, that we do what we have to do to protect our country,” he told reporters Thursday at the Capitol.
“That’s why we’re dropping this bill. It’s the only bipartisan bill on the border and Ukraine in the House.”
The bill has virtually no chance of passing through either chamber.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4472523-lawmakers-unveil-bipartisan-bill-combining-ukraine-aid-and-border-security/
