Senate easily approves aid for Israel, Ukraine

TikTok divestment bill on the way to Biden

Apr 24, 2024

Also in today’s edition of “Regular Order” for April 24, 2024:

After months of gridlock, suddenly Congress acts.
Supreme Court hears Idaho abortion case.
All House incumbents advance in Pennsylvania.

FOREIGN AID. Ending months of gridlock and delay, the U.S. Senate last night gave overwhelming approval to a $95 billion package of aid for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. "Today the Senate sends a unified message to the entire world," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. "America will always defend democracy in its hour of need." The final vote was 79 to 18.

MCCONNELL. Just like the House, this was a strong bipartisan vote, and the words of the two party leaders conveyed an extraordinarily serious tone. "This is an extremely important day in the history of our country and of the free world,” said Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, who bemoaned the delay in aid for Ukraine. "We don't have to give up on Ukraine and we're not going to."
BIDEN. "I will sign this bill into law and address the American people as soon as it reaches my desk," President Biden said last night, "so we can begin sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine this week." Mr. Biden said the message was simple: "We stand resolutely for democracy and freedom, and against tyranny and oppression."
DETAILS. The package not only includes aid for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, but also a series of other bills which slap new sanctions on Iran, allow seized Russian assets to be used to rebuild Ukraine, as well as a plan which attempts to force a Chinese-backed company to sell the TikTok social media app. You can read the bill at this link.

HALLWAYS. Speaking with Senators yesterday, there was a palpable sense of purpose and satisfaction. They knew how difficult the debate, the process, and the politics had been. They knew how easy it would have been to just move on - and give up. But they didn’t.

NO VOTES. Of the 18 ‘No’ votes, 15 came from Senate Republicans: Barrasso WY, Blackburn TN, Braun IN, Budd NC, Cruz TX, Hagerty TN, Hawley MO, Johnson WI, Lee UT, Lummis WY, Marshall KS, Rubio FL, Scott FL, Schmitt MO, and Vance OH. Also voting against the plan were two Democrats, Merkley OR and Welch VT, along with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

OPPONENTS. Most of the Republican opposition was focused on the lack of border security provisions. "We must secure our own border before we help other countries protect theirs," said Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC). "This is legislative blackmail and I will not vote for blackmail," said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).
LINDBERGH. Republican backers called opponents of aid to Ukraine, isolationists. "If we don't stop Putin now, he will keep going," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), comparing Ukraine critics to Charles Lindbergh, who led an ‘America First’ drive against U.S. involvement in World War II.
SWITCH. Nine GOP Senators voted for the bill this time, after opposing it back in February: Britt AL, Cotton AR, Daines MT, Fischer NE, Graham SC, Hyde Smith MS, Lankford OK, Mullin OK, and Ricketts NE.
MULLIN. "Passing this national security package sends a message to the world that America is still the beacon of freedom, and we’re willing to invest in our own defense capabilities and those of our allies," said Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), one of the GOP vote switchers.
NOT VOTING. Three Senators missed the final vote: Paul KY, Scott SC, and Tuberville AL.

CONGRESS. We should not gloss over what's happened in the past six weeks on Capitol Hill. Despite all of the gridlock, despite all of the nasty political recriminations, despite unbelievable GOP dysfunction in the House, the Congress has suddenly been able to produce a series of major bills with strong bipartisan support.

SCOREBOARD. In March, lawmakers avoided a shutdown and funded the government. After Easter, Congress passed a controversial bill to reauthorize foreign intelligence surveillance powers. And now comes aid for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, plus a host of other measures including the bill dealing with TikTok.
SPEAKER. Maybe the most important player in getting this aid package done was Speaker Mike Johnson - who after months of seemingly doing all he could to avoid a vote - helped navigate a GOP family feud in the House, and put together a winning strategy on the floor. “This is one of those gut-check issues,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA). “It wouldn’t have happened without Mike."
CRITICS. It's also important to note that when Johnson finally stood up to the House Freedom Caucus, he ran them over with a bipartisan steamroller. All of those GOP threats of a motion to boot out the Speaker now seem empty and weak. Don’t get me wrong, Johnson is still in a tough spot - but he comes out of this stronger than a few weeks ago.

VACATE. We've seen a very clear divide on Capitol Hill in recent days. Strong bipartisan majorities voting for aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan - versus Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and a couple of other Republicans who want to depose Speaker Johnson. That was my story yesterday for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

VIDEO. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said Tuesday that he had been threatened with a $500 fine for posting a social media video from the floor of the U.S. House - an action which is definitely against the rules. But after some outrage - and the intervention of the Speaker of the House - Massie was in the clear. What’s this all about? Ukraine.

FLAG WAVING. After the House had voted in favor of aid for Ukraine on Saturday, Democrats began waving small Ukrainian flags on the House floor. That infuriated many Republicans, and Massie posted this video of what was happening.

RULES. "Instead of fining Democrats for waving flags, the House Sergeant at Arms just called and said I will be fined $500 if I don’t delete this video post," Massie tweeted, before jabbing at the House Speaker. "Mike Johnson really wants to memory hole this betrayal of America."

SPEAKER. It didn’t take long for Massie to get some help. “Upon viewing Rep. Massie’s tweet, our team reached out to the Sergeant at Arms,” Speaker Mike Johnson tweeted. “I do not agree with this assessment and there will be no fine imposed on Rep. Massie.”
SERGEANT AT ARMS. I understand what House Sergeant at Arms William McFarland was trying to do here - but I cannot believe that his office decided to pursue a fine against Massie over this video. And then, the office gets smacked down publicly by the Speaker. What a bad look.
TIP LINE. Maybe some of you in the House SAA office can send me some inside dope on what happened. (It’s the least you can do since I know that people there are reading - but not paying - for my newsletter.)

COLUMBIA. House Speaker Mike Johnson is sure to get a lot of news media attention today in New York, as he goes to Columbia University, site of student unrest and protests which have targeted Jewish students in recent days. The Speaker will meet with some of those students and then hold a news conference.

ADVISORY. "Following the meeting, he will deliver remarks and take questions regarding the troubling rise of virulent antisemitism on America's college campuses," a media advisory to reporters stated.
NOVEMBER. Like I wrote earlier this week, this kind of push by the Speaker is part of a much broader GOP effort to peel off Jewish voters from the Democratic Party - and it's something which should not be ignored or brushed off.

SUPREME COURT. For the second time this term, a major abortion case is before the U.S. Supreme Court today. Last month, the justices heard arguments in a case dealing with access to widely used drugs for abortions. This time, it's about emergency abortion care in Idaho - a state which has a strict anti-abortion law.

EMTALA. At issue is a federal law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. The feds say that law preempts any state abortion ban - like in Idaho - and requires hospitals to provide abortion services to women in order to stabilize their condition, no matter what laws are on the books.
QUESTION. In a sense, Idaho is asking the courts to put more weight behind laws which protect an unborn child versus laws which protect the health of the mother. It's all part of the new legal (and political) universe now that Roe v. Wade has been thrown aside. A decision is expected by late June.

SUNSHINE. President Biden was talking about abortion on Tuesday as he used a speech in Florida to weigh in against a new law soon to take effect in Florida which bans abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy. "We can stop it," Biden said at a speech in Tampa. "When you vote." (Abortion will be on the ballot in Florida in November.)

KEYSTONE STATE. It was a good night to be an incumbent as voters went to the polls in Pennsylvania on Tuesday. All 17 House members from the state won their primaries; the toughest race was for Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), who easily dispatched a spirited challenge from Democrat Bhavini Patel.

SENATE. Voters also officially set up a race in November between Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Republican Dave McCormick. Two years ago, McCormick failed in his bid for Senate, losing to Dr. Mehmet Oz in the GOP primary. Casey is the favorite for November, but this won't be a slam dunk by any means.

WHITE HOUSE. Last night's results from Pennsylvania again showed some familiar weaknesses for Donald Trump, especially in the suburbs outside Philadelphia. Even though Nikki Haley is long gone from the GOP race, she still won over 15 percent of the vote in an important swing state for November.

VOTE BY MAIL. Donald Trump has crusaded against voting by mail. In Pennsylvania, over 81 percent of his votes yesterday were cast on primary day - only 18 percent by mail. President Biden had almost 59 percent of his votes cast by mail. That's just a recipe for disaster for Trump and the GOP.
CAMPAIGN. One of the biggest stories about the 2024 race is how much more money President Biden is raising than Donald Trump. The group Medium Buying, which tracks political ad spending, had a very interesting item yesterday about political ads.
DARK. "The Trump campaign has not placed any TV ad spending since the South Carolina GOP primary in late February." What does that tell us? The Trump campaign is short on money.

VIVA DE LA SANTOS. Disgraced ex-Rep. George Santos (R-NY) has now backed off his plans to run for Congress this year as an Independent. "I don’t want to split the ticket," Santos tweeted. "Staying in this race all but guarantees a victory for the Dems." (I'm not sure I buy that, but that's what Santos said.) Santos faces a federal trial on various corruption charges in September.

DAILY DOUBLE. Senate Chaplain Dr. Barry Black did double duty on Tuesday, as he gave the opening prayer both in the U.S. House and Senate. Black first helped open the Senate's session at 10 am, and then walked across the Capitol for the start of the House session at 10:30 am. (For those wondering, the prayers were not the same.)

EXACTA. It's not the first time the Senate Chaplain has led the prayer in both chambers on the same day. Black’s last double was on June 20, 2023. He has served as Senate Chaplain since 2003.

RAP SHEET. A member of the 'Proud Boys' militia group from Maryland has been sentenced to over 6 years in prison for assaulting police officers on Jan. 6. Scott Miller joined rioters trying to break through police lines in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel. He threw metal pipes and other objects at the cops and struck multiple officers with a long pole.

MUSE OF HISTORY. April 24, 1948. On this date, retired Gen. Dwight Eisenhower was asked at a Senate hearing about ending segregation in the Army. While noting his opposition to ‘extreme segregation,’ Eisenhower stopped short of calling for major change. "I believe that the human race may finally grow up to the point where it will not be a problem," Eisenhower said of racial prejudice. "But I do believe that if we attempt merely by passing a lot of laws to force someone to like someone else, we are just going to get into trouble."

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:

The House is back for votes on April 29.

The Senate next has votes on April 30.

Check President Biden’s schedule.

Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree.

Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com

If you want to say ‘thanks’ - you can buy me a cup of coffee.

Regular Order by Jamie Dupree

Discussion about this post