The Bipartisan Military Aid and Border Security Bill Appears to be Dead. What now ?
The Republican Party has demonstrated it’s subservience to Donald Trump and rejection of policy making as such. In a sane country, this would doom the party to a very long period in opposition, but I am a citizen of the country I have not the country I want. I think the issues are well known, but I will attempt a brief review.
First, while most Republicans in Congress agree that the US should aid Ukraine, some side with Putin. More importantly, many who agree that Ukraine must be aided also insisted on concessions from Democrats in exchange for that aid (see avoiding default and keeping the federal government open). Democrats caved and accepted a fairly extreme border security/less immigration component of a bipartisan compromise bill. They gave the Republicans what the Republicans (unreasonably demanded). Trump noticed that a bipartisan compromise would make Biden look bad and demanded that Republicans vote against the reforms they had demanded. Enough Republicans obeyed that the bill is dead.
I am pleased that the harsh anti-asylum provisions will not become law. I am very mildly pleased that the Republicans have made it very clear to anyone paying any attention at all that they put obedience to Trump above their stated policy goals and above their view of how to help the country. Mildly as people paying any attention at all are not enough — we need a majority. I am very pleased that there is now an opportunity to get aid for Ukraine without making things more difficult for asylum seekers.
The vehicle is the House Republican bill which consists only of aid to Israel. I do not think this is a good bill. Israel is not a poor country and they do not need aid — they can buy the weapons that the bill gives them. However, it will pass the House and go to the Senate where Schumer controls the agenda. Schumer can allow votes on amendments to add aid to Urkaine, Taiwan and Palestine Palestinian refugees. Those amendments will pass even though they will be filibustered. Then the House will have a chance to pass the Senate bill and send it to be signed or to vote it down (politically costly) or to amend and resend or to nominate House representatives to a conference committee (remember them ?).
I think it might be a good idea to include the provisions of the dead bill which increase funding for customs and border patrol etc. They are reasonable given the increased workload and popular.
The bill would not include the provisions which Republicans demanded and now denounce.
I think it can be passed over speaker Johnson’s opposition with a discharge petition. The Republicans have chosen to fight a battle on extremely unfavorable ground, because they refused to take yes for an answer.
Lankford
“Are we as Republicans going to have press conferences and complain the border’s bad and then intentionally leave it open? Are we going to just complain about things, or are we going to actually address and change as many things as we can?
It’s amazing to me — if i go back two months ago and say we have the shot under a Democrat president to dramatically increase detention beds, deportation flights, lock down the border, to be able to change the asylum laws, to be able to accelerate the process, no one would have believed it. And now no one actually wants to be able to fix it and says, ‘I don’t want to even debate it, I don’t want to discuss it.’”
If it was not for the issues at hand, I would believe this to be hilarious. The opposition is not stupid. The one who has the most power is little more than a disrupter. You have to wonder what disorder or disease is slowly taking over his brain. Yet, no one on that side of the aisle notices the erratic behavior. Behavior, which is not planned and just a serious of outbursts.
Dems may get what they really want.
If Biden does not want a real issue going into this election, he does need to have a plan for the border other than 40-foot containers, razor barbed wire, etc. I think he can do better than those solutions.
I like watching people blow themselves up.
I am sitting here in Arizona and maybe 70-miles from the border.
What the co-president & his party have in mind is that we await the results of the November election. No big changes until then, if you please.
Not concerned about border.
I do not want to fund the Kievan war. Who rules the disparate khaganate rolled in Kiev regime by Stalin and Krushy is not worth one cent of US debt.
“The United States and its allies are not only providing aid to Ukraine but rather investing in their own security and self-interest. Investing in Ukraine now will avoid future costs to the United States and reap hefty returns in terms of economic security and stability gains. By building a stronger Ukraine, the United States is promoting security in the region, a weaker autocratic Russia, stronger democratic neighbors that border Russia, and a stronger European Union—all contributing toward stronger transatlantic security.
“If Russia is not stopped, it will be emboldened to continue further into other countries, which will send a message to other authoritarian governments that they can do the same across the globe. Ultimately, this could perpetuate more conflict and exponentially higher costs. The United States will continue to risk living in a world order where international borders are questioned and trade is disrupted. This will have global consequences that will inevitably play into potential future conflicts. The faster Ukraine receives both financial and military guarantees, the sooner the war will end, bringing immediate benefits to the global economy and U.S. security.”
https://www.csis.org/analysis/funding-decisive-ukraine-victory-investment-not-cost
csis definitions of “security” and “self interest” are hard to see why I should value them.
Maybe if I had stock in Lockheed.
@paddy,
LOL! If you had stock in Lockheed, you’d want to defund Ukraine and wait until the wider wars that result boost demand.
CSIS definitions of “security” and “self-interest” make it plain why we should all value them.
I considered buying a few Boeing last summer when they were at 52 week low, and watched it pop up until the 737 door plug popped off.
I spent too much of my working life managing DoD contracts and have avoided any MIC stocks.
Yves Smith ran a post about “just war” yesterday. I have contemplated the same since my cold war USAF service.
“Security” and “self interest” are not on any “just war” list that I know. Proxies killing and dying for US?
Problem with Ukraine is everyone listening to the csis types see Putin as either Attila or Genghis. While the truth is likely closer to Krushjev.
Putin enjoys the NATO supply lines and stock depth being stretched by moving soldiers and materiel far east of the Dneipr.
I grew up and served with the ‘no more Pearl Harbors’ mindset! Which I now conclude is uneconomical as well as leads to immoral war.
paddy
can’t tell the difference between khrushchev and putin?
actually it sounds kind of irish..they had trouble telling hitler from the kaiser.
joel
have to say i agree with you entirely on this.
People seem to be ignoring the district possibility that Trump is a Russian agent, or submissive to their blackmail and oligarch’s purchases of condos or both. In other words, the border may be the secondary issue.
@Jack,
I don’t know which “people” you’re referring to, but the possibility that Trump is either an agent of Putin, subject to Putin’s blackmail (remember the “pee tapes”?), or financially motivated to support Russia has been discussed for years, at least since the first impeachment.
But not so much at the moment. Most of the contemporary comment is about his wanting to preserve the border issue for his campaign.
Disagreeing with csis or with sending resources to Kiev is not being a Putin agent or a Russian agent or sympathizer. Very poor logic!
Strategic, Tactical and Logistics arguments can be made against sending scarce and hard to procure 5% of pentagon assets to Kiev.
I didn’t know Paddy was a Russian name or nickname.
County Sligo branch of my heritage. The branch that was not here for the Civil War
And why would ya be sidin’ with the Russkies then?
Biden Tells Congress to ‘Show Some Spine’ Against Trump on Border
NY Times – just in
President Biden blamed Republicans’ fear of their 2024 front-runner, Donald Trump, for thwarting the legislation.