House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) introduced a bill (Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024) to send $14.3 billion in aid to Israel for its war against Hamas in Gaza. He told Senate Republicans that he supports providing additional aid to Ukraine to protect it from Russia — however, he doesn’t want to combine it with money for Israel. (The White House’s $106 billion initiative includes aid to both countries.)
Johnson’s bill (which also includes cuts in IRS funding) faces opposition from some veteran Senate Republicans including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) who called the potential separation of aid “a huge mistake,” and Senate Republican Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) who said “the threats facing America and our allies are serious and they’re intertwined. If we ignore that fact, we do so at our own peril.”
GOP members in agreement with Johnson are accusing Graham and McConnell of “undermining” the new Speaker and working with Democrats including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
GOP Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) said of McConnell: “I think it’s notable that he’s standing with Schumer over against (sic) the Republicans.”
While the House voted on Johnson’s bill this week, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who declared in February that “President Biden should stop holding back and go all in for victory in Ukraine,” and complained of Republicans support softening, met and posed with a group of religious leaders from Ukraine in his office.
Below, Grassley posed with Ukrainian evangelical Christian Bishop Ivan Rusyn at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington. Rusyn told The Washington Post he was disappointed to learn that House Speaker Johnson declined his request to meet and discuss additional aid to Ukraine. Rusyn said of Johnson, who is also an evangelical Christian: “Since he’s a devoted believer, I believe he would change his mind.”
Dr. Ivan Rusyn of the Evangelical Church in Ukraine spoke movingly about the kidnapping of religious leaders and persecution of evangelicals in Russian occupied areas pic.twitter.com/p3PnVzOB5s
— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) October 31, 2023
Sen. Grassley captioned the photo below: “Met with group of Ukrainian religious leaders from different faiths w 1 message. Most are on Putin’s hit list if he is successful in conquering Ukraine. I agreed to keep them in my prayers.”
Met with group of Ukrainian religious leaders from different faiths w 1 message. Most are on Putin’s hit list if he is successful in conquering Ukraine. I agreed to keep them in my prayers pic.twitter.com/weWKK1fGGn
— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) October 31, 2023
Note: Congress has approved $113 billion for Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.
