U.S. lawmakers scramble for Plan B on Ukraine - The Hill
Kyiv • UNN
U.S. lawmakers are considering alternative approaches to quickly approve the next round of aid to Ukraine, as Republican leaders refuse to support the Senate's Ukraine aid bill without additional border security measures.
U.S. lawmakers are preparing a plan "B" to pass an aid package for Ukraine. This is stated in the material of The Hill, reports UNN.
Details
According to the publication, lawmakers of both parties are trying to find an alternative approach, the so-called "Plan B," to approve another tranche of aid to Ukraine as soon as possible.
Congressman Gregory Meeks (New York), the senior Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the most promising tactic in a short list of options is a petition to fire House Speaker Mike Johnson, who rejected the Senate-backed Ukraine aid bill.
This is a way to do something bipartisan for the national security of our country and to support our allies. This is urgent. Ukraine needs what they need right now.
At the same time, the congressman noted that dismissal petitions rarely succeed because they require members of the majority party to stand up to their own leadership. The last time such a vote was held was in 2015.
It's a great idea - if we can get the necessary amount.
However, Johnson has previously stated that he supports increased aid to Ukraine, as well as other elements of the Senate bill. And a petition for dismissal would provide him with a form of political cover: foreign aid would flow without him, potentially insulating him from any negative reaction from Trump.
A discharge petition could obviously work. ... You probably have about 100 Republicans who want to vote for it, and you have a large number who I think really want to sign the petition. They just need a nod, a little nod. And so I think we need to work with the other team first to make sure that they can get that support.
There are also many moderate Republicans who do not like the idea of bypassing the leadership, at least for the time being.
Congressman Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who represents the district Biden won in 2020, said "one or two" Democrats have approached him about a petition to quit, but he is not considering joining the effort "right now." He wants to wait for further discussions.
Politicians are also discussing a second version of "Plan B" - an alternative package that would include border security and foreign aid, but for a smaller amount. For Ukraine, they envision about $40 billion.
Another cool option in the fight to get aid to Ukraine is the elusive foreign aid plus border proposal from Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), co-chair of the Problem Solvers Forum, and Bacon, who is also a member of the House.
Fitzpatrick said he was working with a bipartisan "handful" of House and Senate lawmakers on a package that would address border security, Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. Bacon said the border aspect is a form of "Stay in Mexico" policy, and that the price of the entire package would be about $60 billion - far less than the $95 billion proposal passed by the Senate this week - with about $40 billion going to Ukraine.
I hope we can contribute to the conversation and learn something.
The proposed bill would not include humanitarian aid. Bacon believes that the humanitarian aid in the previous Senate bill alienated some conservative lawmakers.
"Stay tuned over the next 24 hours; you're going to see something that I think would be bipartisan," Fitzpatrick told reporters Wednesday morning when asked about signing a petition to be exempt from the Senate bill.
Context
Republican Party leaders in the United States do not want to approve the next tranche of aid for Ukraine until a bill is approved that will address border security in the United States.
It should be noted that this week the Senate approved a foreign aid package that provides assistance to Ukraine, Israel and other foreign allies, but Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) quickly rejected it, saying that Congress should not consider international issues without resolving the crisis in the United States, namely the Mexican border.
Johnson's position is close to the interests of Donald Trump and many conservatives in the Republican Party. However, this view is not shared by the vast majority of House lawmakers, who realize the existential threat to European democracy - and U.S. national security - if Russia wins.
