Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: JEMAL COUNTESS / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP 9:45 a.m., February 13, 2024
Democrats and Republicans have been torn apart for months in the American Congress over the question of aid to Ukraine, an ally of the United States, at war with Russia for almost two years. In the middle of the presidential campaign, the equation has transformed into a standoff between President Joe Biden, who is urgently demanding these new funds, and Donald Trump.
Trump's allies in the US House of Representatives dealt another setback to supporters of aid to Ukraine, announcing in advance their refusal to consider legislation that the US Senate could pass on Tuesday in view of a new envelope for Kiev. Democrats and Republicans have been torn apart for months in the American Congress over the question of aid to Ukraine, an ally of the United States, at war with Russia for almost two years.
The Democrats are, in the vast majority, in favor. The Republicans are divided between interventionist hawks, pro-Ukraine, and lieutenants of Donald Trump, much more isolationist. In the midst of the presidential campaign, the equation has transformed into a long-distance standoff between President Joe Biden, who is urgently demanding these new funds, and Donald Trump, who claims that if he were re-elected in November, he would settle the war between Russia and Ukraine “in 24 hours”; without really explaining how.
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“More urgent problem”
So it doesn't matter that the Democratic president supports the project, or that he urged Congress to "adopt it quickly." In these negotiations, it is his predecessor and probable rival in the presidential election who has the last word. The Senate, with a Democratic majority, has certainly taken several steps in favor of adopting a text coupling $60 billion in aid for kyiv with funds for Israel and Taiwan; an envelope of 95 billion dollars. He could vote on a bill to this effect in the early hours of Tuesday.
But without the support of Republicans, the majority in the House and many of whom are loyal to Donald Trump, the text cannot go anywhere. Monday evening, Mike Johnson, the leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, and loyal to Donald Trump, assured that the text negotiated by the senators would not be examined as is in his hemicycle. "The Senate's foreign aid bill remains silent on the most pressing problem facing our country," Mike Johnson blasted in a statement, referring to the migration crisis at the US border. United and Mexico.
A vote in exchange for strengthening migration policy
In exchange for the adoption of aid to kyiv, the Republicans are demanding a significant strengthening of migration policy. And "in the absence of any modification" from the Senate on the subject, "the House of Representatives will continue to work according to its own will on these important issues", he assured. Mike Johnson, like many Republicans in Congress, is following directives from Donald Trump, who said on Saturday that the United States must "stop giving money without expecting to be reimbursed."
The Republican candidate also threw a wrench into the pond, assuring that he would "encourage" Russia to attack NATO countries if they did not pay their share, which caused a shower of critics on the other side of the Atlantic. “We are helping Ukraine with more than $100 billion more than NATO,” Donald Trump insisted Monday evening on his Truth Social network. “NATO must equalize, and now,” he demanded. “Otherwise, it will be America first!”, he said, in reference to the isolationist doctrine that he placed at the heart of his foreign policy, between 2017 and 2021.