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Editorial
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 311 to 112 on Saturday to approve the $60 billion aid package for Ukraine. This comes none too soon as Russia has been making gains against Ukrainian forces hampered by a lack of ammunition and heavy weapons.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson brought the bill to the floor as part of a package of four bills, the others being aid to Israel and the Indo-Pacific area and a ban on the social media platform TicToc. Johnson had previously stated that he would not bring the Ukraine bill up before a border security bill but changed his stance in recent weeks. One has to wonder if that was partly due to information he became privy to resulting from his enhanced security briefings provided him as speaker. Did he recognize the increasingly precarious state of Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s naked aggression? Did he come to realize the implications for the rest of Europe should Russia prevail in this conflict?
Prominent Republicans have begun speaking up and warning about the Russian threat, and about Russia’s efforts to undermine and propagandize the American people and Congress itself.
“Our adversaries are working together to undermine our Western values and demean our democracy,” Rep. Michael McCaul, (R-TX) and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Saturday as the House debated the measure. “We cannot be afraid at this moment. We have to do what’s right. Evil is on the march. History is calling and now is the time to act. History will judge us by our actions here today,” he continued. “As we deliberate on this vote, you have to ask yourself this question: ‘Am I Chamberlain or Churchill?’” In a public letter sent to Speaker Johnson last week, former CIA Director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and John Walther, president of the Hudson Institute, said, “We encourage you to lead with conviction and bring the aid package to a vote.”
Mike Turner (R-OH), chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday, “We see directly coming from Russia attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor. To the extent that this propaganda takes hold, it makes it more difficult for us to really see this as an authoritarian versus democracy battle.” We applaud Speaker Johnson’s political courage in bringing the Ukraine aid bill to the floor for a vote in the face of vicious opposition from the far-right in his party. Johnson may, though, have some inkling that should he face a vote to expel him from the speakership, he may get some support from Democratic members repelled by another weeks-long gridlock in the House wrangling over Johnson’s successor.
We note that our own Congressman Ben Cline voted in favor of aid to Israel, aid for Taiwan and other Asian nations, and to force the sale of TicToc, but voted against assistance to Ukraine. We think an explanation is in order. If Representative Cline had a problem with foreign aid as a matter of fiscal responsibility, it would follow that he would have voted against the other two aid bills, but he did not.
The week after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Representative Cline wrote in his Sixth District Perspectives newsletter, “We must continue to prod the Administration and the world community to stand strongly against this aggression. The Ukrainian people have shown tremendous resiliency and determination in their efforts to repel the invaders and defend their homeland. I am pleased that countries throughout Europe have condemned the actions of the Kremlin and are giving the Ukrainian resistance some of the tools needed to fight. As the situation unfolds, our thoughts and prayers are with the Ukrainian people.”
What’s changed from 26 months ago?
