Ukraine aid could be Biden’s first big battle with Johnson

President Joe Biden‘s first showdown with the new speaker of the House has already begun.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has rejected Biden’s $106 billion supplemental funding request, which would have tied money for Israel to money for Ukraine, in favor of an Israel-only bill.

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“There are lots of things going on around the world that we have to address, and we will, but right now, what’s happening in Israel takes the immediate attention, and I think we’ve got to separate that and get it through. I believe there’ll be bipartisan support for that, and I’m going to push very hard for it,” Johnson said on Fox News over the weekend.

The split comes as some conservatives in the House have become skeptical of Ukraine funding that doesn’t include a clear end goal for the war, decrying what they describe as a “blank check” policy to date.

However, there are other partisan points at play. Johnson wants to fund $14.3 billion for Israel by cutting a similar amount from the IRS that would have gone to the agency under the Inflation Reduction Act.

AP

The Inflation Reduction Act is one of Biden’s signature pieces of legislation since taking office, and the White House hit back hard against the proposal.

“Despite strong bipartisan agreement that the United States must support Israel as it defends itself after the worst terrorist attack in its history, House Republicans are engaging in a dangerous political stunt that for the first time in American history demands emergency national security funding be fully offset,” read a memo from White House spokesman Andrew Bates.

Not only that, by cutting IRS funding, the bill would “increase our deficit by actively helping the rich and big corporations cheat on their taxes, forcing more of the tax burden onto middle-class families and working Americans,” Bates added.

The Biden administration issued a veto threat on Tuesday night.

Biden’s opposition means most if not all Democrats in Congress will vote against Johnson’s proposal. Even if it passes in the House, the measure faces a tough road in the Senate, which is under Democratic control and features several Ukraine hawks in the GOP ranks.

But the proposal showcases Johnson’s conservative bona fides and may presage future showdowns between the two Washington leaders. Biden himself is a strong supporter of Israel, and Johnson is banking that public pressure will weigh more heavily toward Israel than toward the IRS.

Biden’s initial ask was for $106 billion to address Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and border security, the latter issue a major point of contention with Republicans. Of that total, $61.4 billion would go to Ukraine and $14.3 billion to Israel, the same figure as in Johnson’s proposal. Biden gave a prime-time Oval Office address to make his case for the spending.

“Hamas and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: They both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy,” the president said from behind the Resolute Desk. “American leadership is what holds the world together.”

There are other sticking points in Biden’s proposal. One is roughly $9 million to go toward humanitarian aid in Gaza. Some Republicans, including in the Senate, have argued this money is ill-advised, as it would be co-opted by Hamas.

“Sending aid to the Palestinians in Gaza is akin to funneling aid directly to Hamas,” a group of 12 Republican senators wrote in a letter to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “The president’s decision to allocate additional funding, in addition to the $100 million in aid previously announced, will inevitably end up in the hands of a genocidal Palestinian terrorist organization that has evidenced its desire to destroy the Jewish state.”

But with vocal pressure from the Democratic Party’s left wing to back civilians in Gaza, the Biden White House is likely to insist on keeping the aid intact. Pro-Palestinian protesters repeatedly disrupted a Tuesday Senate hearing on Israel funding.

The afternoon White House press briefing was dominated by questions about Israel and Gaza.

“There shouldn’t be any political games played with our national security,” national security spokesman John Kirby said. “[Johnson’s bill] doesn’t meet our national security needs. As commander in chief, the president will never do anything that doesn’t meet our key national security needs.”

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In the end, UCLA global studies lecturer Benjamin Radd predicts both Ukraine and Israel will get their aid.

“On the Republican side, it’s a fight over who can be more supportive of Israel, by and large,” he said. “Both countries will get their funding. They just have to play this game first.”