While the United States cannot secure its own border, Congress revealed on Saturday night that there are two countries whose borders they will spend money on: Ukraine and Israel.
Roll Call noted that “six months after President Joe Biden first asked for it, the House passed a tweaked version of his emergency aid package for key U.S. allies with strong bipartisan support, sending it back to the Senate for a final vote.
The $95.3 billion supplemental spending measure passed under an unusual procedure in which lawmakers voted on four separate bills that were then put together into one vehicle, replacing the text of a similar Senate-passed bill that came over from that chamber two months ago.”
The massive spending bill comes on the heels of inflation unexpectedly rising last month. The move may end up costing Speaker Mike Johnson his job.
The Daily Caller explained that there’s at least one flag liberals are happy to wave, and it’s not the American one.
The Democrats began waving small Ukrainian flags and chanting following the 311-112 vote that passed HR 8035, the Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act. The representative presiding over the House called for order, noting that the waving of the flags was a “violation of decorum.”
The United States has sent over $100 billion in aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, 2022. About $4.5 billion in aid for Ukraine was included in the continuing resolution signed by President Joe Biden in September 2023.
The Biden administration announced in January 2023 they would send 31 M1 Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine after announcing a battery of MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missiles would be provided in December 2022.
The Biden administration announced plans to primarily send Ukraine M864 155-millimeter artillery shells known as Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM), which dispense smaller explosive weapons over an area to attack personnel and vehicles, in July 2023.
The chanting and flag waving in the House chamber drew condemnation from some Republicans.
“The only flag that should be flying on the floor of the U.S. House is the AMERICAN FLAG!” Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina posted on X. Mace opposed the Ukraine aid and a sanctions bill targeting Russia and Iran, but supported the aid packages for Israel and the Indo-Pacific region that were voted on separately.
The only flag that should be flying on the floor of the U.S. House is the AMERICAN FLAG! 🇺🇸
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) April 20, 2024
“Ukrainian flags fly in the chamber of the UNITED STATES House of Representatives as they vote to send more of your hard-earned money to a corrupt foreign regime,” Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky posted. “And just like that they shout “UKRAINE! UKRAINE!” while happily working to secure Ukraine’s borders, not ours.”
Ukrainian flags fly in the chamber of the UNITED STATES House of Representatives as they vote to send more of your hard-earned money to a corrupt foreign regime. And just like that they shout “UKRAINE! UKRAINE!”while happily working to secure Ukraine’s borders, not ours. pic.twitter.com/ZXZo1kliNl
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) April 20, 2024
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu thanked America’s Congress for the cash, according to CNN.
“Thank you, America!” Zelensky wrote on his Telegram on Saturday, shortly after the House of Representatives passed the long-delayed Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act by a vote of 311-112.
“Thank you friends, thank you America!” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a post on social media, adding that the bill demonstrates “strong bipartisan support for Israel and defends Western civilization.”
