President Biden pressured House Speaker Mike Johnson to pass the Senate’s sweeping foreign aid and border security package now that Congress has finished funding the government.
The Senate passed the $95 billion last month, which includes aid for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific, but so far Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, has not brought the bill to the House for a vote.
The speaker argued that he would bring foreign funding under consideration in the House once the long-delayed spending process was completed. Mr. Biden’s signature on the latest, $1.2 trillion funding package means the end of the Fiscal Year 2024, and the start of a ticking clock for Mr. Johnson to decide.
“But I want to be clear: Congress’s work isn’t finished. The House must pass the bipartisan national security supplemental to advance our national security interests,” Mr. Biden said in a statement on Saturday.
Part of Mr. Johnson’s reasoning for not bringing a vote on the Senate’s bill is that it lacked more stringent border security policies. A previous bipartisan Senate package included some conservative border wins but was ultimately blocked by Senate Republicans and highly criticized by Mr. Johnson after former President Donald Trump railed against the deal.
Mr. Biden stressed that the speaker must act on that bill, too.
“And Congress must pass the bipartisan border security agreement — the toughest and fairest reforms in decades — to ensure we have the policies and funding needed to secure the border,” Mr. Biden said. “It’s time to get this done.”
Mr. Johnson has promised to deal with foreign aid and border security when Congress returns in April, but what the House GOP produces could be markedly different from the Senate’s offering.
The speaker has a few options to choose from for foreign aid: the Senate’s bill, a bipartisan $66 billion House bill with Trump-era border policy, or House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael T. McCaul’s yet-to-be-released bill that could include policies to use seized Russian assets or a loan to pay for Ukraine aid.
He also faces pressure in the House from Democrats and Republicans who have signed petitions to force votes on Ukraine aid bills, however, neither of the two petitions have earned enough support yet.
“We have done important work discussing options with members — such as the REPO Act, loans, additional sanctions, and energy exports, among other measures — and are preparing to complete our plan for action,” Mr. Johnson said.
On border security, the speaker has made clear that he wants any proposals to be as close as possible to the House’s marquee border bill, the Secure the Border Act, which Democrats have promised to be a non-starter.
“Over the next two weeks, we will be in active discussions among members and leadership to roll out an aggressive plan to highlight the contrasts between the two parties on the catastrophe at the Southern border that is killing countless Americans,” Mr. Johnson said. “We will introduce a series of meaningful bills to begin to fix the problem, and we welcome sensible Democrats in the House and Senate to join us.”
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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