Johnson was just days into his new job last November when the House passed an aid package to Israel of almost $14.5 billion. But the bill has gone untouched by the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Now the House is expected to vote this week on a $17.6 billion second effort, a clean bill that removes language that bothered the Democrats.
Biden's executive order called political panderingChad Groening, AFN.net The head of a messianic Jewish ministry says she was disappointed – but not surprised – the Biden administration is demanding punishment for Jewish settlers accused of hurting Palestinians in the West Bank. In an executive order signed last week, President Biden accused four Jews of attacking Palestinians and their property. The order imposed financial sanctions and visa bans on them. 
Biden has angered the most radical elements in his own party by publicly supporting Israel and its war against Hamas, and he signed the order the same day he went to Michigan, home to a huge Muslim population. Jan Markell, founder and director of Olive Tree Ministries, says the “real evil” in the West Bank is the Palestinian Authority. So she sees Biden’s order as nothing but politics during an election year. “I'm sure he's sending them a message that he's trying to do as they encourage him to do,” Markell says, “and that's cozying up to the Islamic republics of this world.” |
The original House plan was to be paid for by spending cuts, primarily to the Internal Revenue Service to the tune of almost $71 billion.
Rep. Bob Good (R-Virginia) called Johnson’s new plan a “disaster” on American Family Radio Monday.
Good told show host Jenna Ellis that House Republicans are “negotiating against themselves” and offered a handful of other policy riders he says could have been included to send back to Senate Democrats.
“The Senate didn't take up our bill, so now we're going to say, ‘Okay, instead of $14 billion, let's do $17 billion, and let's not pay for it now. Let's just borrow it to do it,’” Good said.
Good said the new bill is unfair to Americans who come behind us.
“We have been begging and pleading with Speaker Johnson to turn the page and the era of unpaid supplementals, meaning when we do these additional spending bills that are outside the regular budget process that further exacerbate our debt situation," the Congressman explained. "We've never been at thirty-four trillion dollars in national debt before. We've never been at a $200 billion monthly deficit before. We are imperiling our ability to respond to future crises because of our debt and our borrowing from our kids and our grandkids to do it.”
There are other ‘Good’ places to make cuts
Good listed the United Nations and World Health Organization as places to make cuts.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has made headlines lately, coming under fire when a number of its employees were found to have participated in the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
Examining UNRWA’s role in those attacks has shed further light on the organization’s hate for Israel. The U.S. is UNRWA’s largest benefactor at more than $300 million a year.
“There are so many things. If the Senate didn't like cutting the IRS, then let's cut U.N funding. Let's cut the climate credits. Let's cut funding for the WHO. There's lots of low-hanging fruit. We should send them a different supplemental every day paying for it with different options,” Good said.
Johnson criticized Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democrats for failing to include the House in their negotiations. By doing so the Senate has “eliminated the ability of swift negotiation for any legislation,” Johnson wrote to House members.
Johnson says further delay is harmful to both Israel and the U.S.
“In the three months since we passed our bill the war with Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists has intensified. Rockets have landed in Israeli cities, attacks on U.S. forces in the region have accelerated, and our retaliatory strikes against Iranian targets in Syria and Iraq are currently under way to deter further aggression,” he wrote. “The need to support our closest ally and our own forces in the region has never been more pressing, and many members of our conference have urged immediate action.”
Debt keeps growing and growing and growing
Multiple sources show, such as the fast-moving U.S. Debt Clock, show the national debt is now in excess of $34 trillion.
The debt affects average Americans in different ways, not all of it bad.
How the borrowed money is used may matter more than the absolute level of debt or its proportion to the country’s Gross Domestic Product, according to Investopedia.
Fitch Ratings, one of the “big three” of credit ratings agencies, has taken note of U.S. debt. Fitch downgraded the U.S. rating from AAA to AA-plus last August.
The Senate on Sunday released a $118 billion proposal that binds together aid for Israel, Ukraine in its war against Russia and U.S. southern border reform.
Johnson has called the bill “dead on arrival” at the House.
“I’ve seen enough. This bill is even worse than we expected and won’t come close to ending the border catastrophe the President has created. As the lead Democrat negotiator proclaimed, under this legislation, ‘the border never closes,’” Johnson wrote Sunday evening on X, formerly Twitter.
Good and other far-right conservatives would agree with Johnson’s view of the Senate bill, but they also don’t like his Israel stand-alone option that requires Democrats to give up nothing.
“Israel has a lower debt-to-GDP ratio than the United States. This spending package has no off-sets, so it will increase our debt by $14.3 billion plus interest. I’m a no,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), wrote on X over the weekend.
Good says Johnson’s proposed solution puts conservatives in a bad spot.
“It’s a big disappointment that the Speaker would once again cave and surrender to pressure from the Senate, pressure from the media," Good concluded. "Speaker Johnson has put conservatives in a very difficult position to choose between showing that we support Israel or compromising our principles from a fiscal standpoint, and further imperiling again our ability to support our allies because of our debt situation.”
