- House Republican leaders are standing in the way of a Senate-backed $95 billion aid bill.
- The bill would provide about $60 billion to Ukraine to protect itself from Russia.
- The bill would also help the U.S. economy, the Wall Street Journal reported.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has blocked a $95 billion emergency foreign aid bill, saying there is “no rush” to consider the bill that the Senate overwhelmingly passed last week.
The bill, opposed by many conservatives because it excludes desirable security measures at the U.S.-Mexico border, is desperately needed by Ukraine as it defends itself from nearly two years of Russian aggression. The plan provides approximately $60 billion in aid.
The bill would also give Israel $14.1 billion in military funding to deter Chinese aggression, $9.2 billion for humanitarian efforts in Gaza, and $8 billion to Taiwan and its allies in the Indo-Pacific.
While supporters of the bill say it is urgently needed to help Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal also notes that the bill would benefit the U.S. economy.
The U.S. defense industry has seen a surge in demand for weapons and ammunition over the past two years as European countries look to step up military operations and the Pentagon buys new equipment, the magazine said.
Officials in President Joe Biden's administration said 64% of the roughly $60 billion earmarked for Ukraine in the Senate-passed bill would go to the U.S. defense industrial base, the newspaper reported.
Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council, told the Journal in a recent interview that the impact on the U.S. economy would be significant.
“That's one of the things that's misunderstood… is how important that funding is to jobs and production across the country,” she told the newspaper.
The newspaper said the $95 billion in aid, on top of funding from previous aid packages, could “infuse the U.S. industrial and defense base with the equivalent of about 0.5% of annual gross domestic product” over the next few years. Reported.
It remains unclear when or if the House will consider the Senate bill. Former President Donald Trump also opposes it, and he is likely to become the Republican presidential nominee. In recent weeks, President Trump has also helped block bipartisan legislation that would strengthen America's asylum system and other systems.
