On Saturday, the capitals of four democracies were strengthened when the U.S. House finally passed long-stalled foreign-aid bills. The three overseas capitals — Kyiv, Jerusalem and Taipei — were boosted by the $95 billion invested in security for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
But just as consequentially, the capital of our country, Washington, D.C., was strengthened by bipartisan legislation led by House Speaker Mike Johnson, who risked his role to do the right thing. Accordingly, just as most Democratic House members had his back on the aid bills, members of both parties should reject Republican extremists who threaten to topple him for doing what the U.S. — and until recently, Republicans — have long done: be a beacon for democracies in their enduring struggle against autocracy.
Johnson wasn’t an early convert; he had to be convinced, particularly on the most immediate need: $60.8 billion to aid Ukraine’s fight against Russia. The speaker reportedly listened to seasoned, reasoned voices, like CIA Director William Burns, who used intelligence estimates to show Ukraine’s growing military disadvantage as well as the specter that Russian revanchism wouldn’t stop at Ukraine’s borders.
Many GOP opponents of aid to Ukraine may cite the failure to pass a major bill on border security. But the bipartisan landmark legislation to do just that, which was crafted by a Republican senator, Oklahoma’s James Lankford, was spiked by congressional GOPers at the behest of former President Donald Trump, who is more interested in a divisive campaign issue than uniting the country by addressing one of its key challenges.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is indeed tragic and is a legitimate issue. As a result, the bill includes $9 billion for humanitarian aid, while $17 billion was approved to help Israel defeat Hamas — whose Oct. 7 terrorist attack started the war — and also address threats from Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, various groups operating out of Syria and, most dangerously, directly from Iran, which recently launched a missile and drone attack against Israel.
Tehran, Moscow and Beijing are three capitals of authoritarian nations that were weakened by Saturday’s vote. And while approving aid in no way guarantees victory or even protection for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, failure to pass these aid bills would have sent a signal far beyond any of these capitals. Including in Washington, where House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Saturday “House Democrats have risen to the occasion, President [Joe] Biden has risen to the occasion, traditional conservatives led by Speaker Mike Johnson have risen to the occasion.”
For his part, Johnson said, accurately, “I think we did our work here, and I think history will judge it well.”
— Tribune News Service via TNS
