Down Angle Symbol A symbol in the form of an angle pointing downwards. Ukrainian army during tank training. Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images
- House Republican leaders are standing in the way of a Senate-backed $95 billion relief bill.
- The bill would give Ukraine around $60 billion for its defense against Russia.
- The law would also strengthen the U.S. economy, the Wall Street Journal reported.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is blocking a $95 billion emergency foreign aid bill, saying he is in “no rush” to implement the legislation that the Senate overwhelmingly passed last week.
The bill, opposed by many conservatives because it excludes desired security measures at the U.S.-Mexico border, would provide about $60 billion in much-needed aid to Ukraine as it resists Russia's nearly two-year-old invasion defended.
The bill would also provide $14.1 billion in military funding for Israel, $9.2 billion for humanitarian efforts in Gaza and $8 billion for Taiwan and its allies in the Indo-Pacific to deter Chinese aggression.
While supporters of the bill say it is urgently needed to help Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal also points out that the bill would benefit the U.S. economy.
According to the Journal, the U.S. defense industry has seen a surge in demand for weapons and ammunition over the past two years, with European countries looking to increase their military operations and the Pentagon purchasing new equipment.
Officials in President Joe Biden's administration said 64% of the roughly $60 billion allocated to Ukraine in the Senate-passed bill would go to the U.S. defense industry, the Journal reported.
Lael Brainard, the director of the White House National Economic Council, told the Journal in a recent interview that the impact on the U.S. economy would be significant.
“That's one of the things that's misunderstood … how important this funding is to employment and production across the country,” she told the newspaper.
The Journal reported that the $95 billion in aid, in addition to money from previous packages, could “infuse funds worth about 0.5% of a year's gross domestic product into the U.S. defense industrial base” in the coming years.
It remains unclear when and whether the House of Representatives will take up the Senate bill. Former President Donald Trump also opposes it and is the Republican Party's likely presidential nominee. Trump has also helped defeat a bipartisan bill in recent weeks that would have, among other things, tightened the U.S. asylum system.
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