House lawmakers introduce alternative foreign aid package
- Senate passed $95B foreign aid package, but House GOP leaders oppose it
- Bipartisan House representatives propose new foreign aid bill
- Unlike the other legislation, H.R. 7372 includes border provisions
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(NewsNation) — A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has unveiled an alternative piece of legislation to a $95 billion package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan passed by the Senate last week that is facing opposition from House GOP leadership.
Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has not put the bill passed by the Senate up for a vote on the House floor, saying it’s because provisions dealing with the southern border were taken out.
The new emergency funding bill being proposed, H.R. 7372, does include border measures, along with providing Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan “defense-only appropriations” for one year.
About $66.32 billion total would be given to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan under the bill, which would also bring back a policy enacted under former President Donald Trump dubbed “Remain in Mexico.” Under this policy, asylum-seekers at the U.S. border would have to stay in Mexico while their cases are processed.
Two of the bill’s sponsors, Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn., and Jared Golden, D-Maine, sent a letter Sunday to their colleagues urging them to vote for H.R. 7372. They wrote it is especially important at a time when Ukraine’s position is “imperiled.”
“Its freedom fighters are running out of ammunition and withdrawing from the East, paving the way for Russia’s further advance,” Fitzpatrick and Golden said in the letter, which was signed by other House members as well. “This is a direct result of Congress’ gridlock.”
H.R. 7372 was stripped of the humanitarian aid the Senate’s bill had for those in Gaza and Ukraine.
“While our responsibility to protect American interests and democracy is great, so too is our duty to be mindful of America’s resources. That is why our bill narrows prior foreign aid proposals to critical military essentials for Ukraine and Israel,” Golden and Fitzpatrick said. “The international community has the will and resources to provide important humanitarian assistance to both Ukraine and Gaza, and the United States should offer to aid in the logistics of its delivery as necessary.”
However, NewsNation partner The Hill reports Democratic leaders voiced opposition to the bill even before it was formally introduced Friday.
“This is clear. Mike Johnson simply needs to put the (Senate’s) bipartisan national security bill on the House floor for an up-or-down vote, and it will pass,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Wednesday. “That’s it.”
