The hardline House Freedom Caucus on Friday refrained from making explicit threats to Johnson’s position, but its announcement further jeopardizes the bipartisan push to send $66 billion in new military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, it reported. Bloomberg.
The House of Representatives plans to leave Washington on recess on December 15, and the prospects for providing aid to Ukraine until then are bleak, the newspaper notes. Several Republican lawmakers said there was no chance of receiving aid for Ukraine this year.
Ultraconservatives are also demanding that any aid package for Ukraine be “paid for” by cuts in other budget items, something Democrats strongly oppose. Earlier this year, the group blocked a number of procedural issues needed for debate in Congress. He is likely to use similar tactics in relation to Ukraine, the publication’s sources concluded.
Democratic and Republican senators have been negotiating for weeks on changes to US immigration laws that would be included in a $111 billion package that includes funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Possible changes include requiring asylum seekers to provide more evidence that they fear persecution in their home countries and speeding up the deportation of those who do not have valid asylum claims.
