SALT LAKE CITY – Now that the U. S. House of Representatives has a speaker, discussions have resumed on the Biden administration’s proposed $106 billion national security package, and aid to Israel and Ukraine.
President Joe Biden met Thursday with new President Mike Johnson and Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries to discuss the proposal. A staunch conservative, Johnson, R-La. , has shown little interest in Congress offering more cash to Ukraine in its war against Russia. reported the Associated Press.
Instead, Johnson said House Republicans would first introduce a separate bill to provide $14. 5 billion in aid to Israel, but they want more information about the Biden administration’s strategy in Ukraine.
“We can’t allow Vladimir Putin to impose himself in Ukraine because he wouldn’t stop him there,” Johnson said in an interview on Fox News’ “Hannity” the day after he was sworn in. “And that would probably inspire and empower China to maybe act on Taiwan. We have those concerns and we’re not going to give up on them. “
A new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute for Politics vote shows Utahns’ interest in the Russia-Ukraine war is waning, but it remains top just two years after the standoff began. The survey reveals that 61% of respondents strongly or closely adhere to the war, particularly compared to 85% a month after Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
Utanians remain divided over whether the U. S. is doing enough to respond to the ongoing war and what form that reaction will take.
Today, more than half, or 55%, the U. S. is doing enough, while 25% are not. A fifth said they didn’t know. In March 2022, a Deseret News/Hinckley Institute poll found that 42% believed the U. S. was doing enough and 41% were not.
Utah’s thinking about answers has also been replaced since the early days of the war.
The supply of humanitarian aid and weapons remains the top popular reaction in the new poll: 61% of the United States deserves to send humanitarian aid to Ukraine and 40% military support. But those numbers are much lower than they were 20 months ago, at 73% and 68%. %, respectively.
The poll also shows that only 36% now impose more economic sanctions, 29% confiscate and freeze the assets of personal Russian citizens, 28% need monetary aid for the army’s response, and 19% send troops to help in combat.
Calls for those moves were highest in March 2022. And while 6% of respondents at the time said the U. S. did some of those things, that number jumps to 20% in the most recent survey.
The vote shows that a higher percentage of Democrats than Republicans support every conceivable U. S. response to the Russia-Ukraine war. In addition, only 33% of Democrats believe the U. S. is doing enough to help Ukraine, compared to 61% of Democrats. Republicans.
Radical conservatives in Congress have opposed any further monetary aid to Ukraine.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy removed investment for Ukraine from an investment bill in late September due to pressure from anti-aid conservatives who had threatened to topple him if he gave in to the House’s demands. Biden administration, according to CBS News.
Some of the Republicans now say they agree to hold separate votes on Ukraine’s money, which they oppose, and aid to Israel, which they favor.
Johnson told Fox that he has “responsibility” for how the money is spent, as lawmakers “have a duty to steward the valuable treasury of the American people. “
Since the start of the war, Biden’s leadership and Congress have committed more than $75 billion in aid to Ukraine, including humanitarian, monetary and military support, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think tank.
On Thursday, the directorate announced it would send another $150 million in security assistance to Ukraine, adding air defense capabilities, artillery ammunition, anti-tank weapons and other devices, according to the Defense Department. This is Biden’s 49th tranche of devices for Ukraine since August 2021.
Biden’s national security package unveiled last week includes $61. 4 billion in military, economic, infrastructure and resettlement assistance for Ukraine. It would also get a percentage of the $10 billion in humanitarian aid that includes Israel and Gaza.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not give up on his aspirations to take over all of Ukraine. He said it’s critical that Congress approve Biden’s investment request.
“Now is the time to move forward with this additional funding, because time is obviously on our side or in Ukraine’s favor,” Kirby said.
A group of Republican senators, along with Utah Sen. Mike Lee, introduced a bill Thursday that would decouple investments for Israel from the additional dollar bills the White House allocates to Ukraine.
Lee said in a press release that Ukraine and Israel are separate issues and that Congress deserves the opportunity to vote separately on potential aid packages.
“If the Biden leadership’s arguments for increasing aid to Ukraine are not strong enough to be sufficient, then presenting it to Congress is an insulting request,” he said. “It is unreasonable for management to exploit an aid program to Israel to siphon off billions of taxpayer dollars and give Ukraine a blank check. “