(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden will ask Congress for billions in military aid for Israel and Ukraine, a request one New York Republican says the House should work to approve “expeditiously.”
“I want to move aid as quickly as possible,” Rep. Mike Lawler said Thursday on “CUOMO” after Biden delivered a prime-time address.
There’s a major hurdle to getting it approved, though. The House is currently without a speaker, meaning it can’t bring any legislation to the floor.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy was ousted two weeks ago, and the GOP has been unable to overcome party infighting to elect a new one. Rep. Jim Jordan has failed in two votes this week and will try for a third time Friday. But it doesn’t appear he’s gaining any more support and in fact lost two more votes in the second vote Thursday than he did in the first.
A plan to temporarily empower Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry was derailed Thursday by Jordan backers who said that amounts to forming a coalition government with Democrats. McHenry can currently only preside over votes to elect a new speaker, and a proposed resolution would have given him the ability to bring the military aid packages to the floor.
“Congress needs to get back to work, the House floor needs to get open, and it’s why I support empowering Patrick McHenry to serve temporarily as speaker pro tem with the authority to move legislation,” Lawler said. “We just do not have the time to waste, and there’s too much at stake.”