The D Brief: Aid votes coming?; Ukraine war casualty counts; A plan to restart F-35 deliveries; Navy to miss recruiting goal; And a bit more.
Defense OneApr 21
House Speaker Johnson Proposes $95B Foreign Aid Bill
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The Facts
The US House voted 316-94 on Friday to send Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) proposed $95B foreign aid and military package to the floor for an official vote. Votes in favor included 165 Democrats and 151 Republicans.
The bill for Ukraine is worth about $60B, of which $15.8B is tabled for security assistance such as weapons and training. $20.5B is for the broader European Command operations, $13.4B to replenish US stockpiles, and $9.5B in forgivable loans to Kyiv.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
Mike Johnson is finally ignoring this small group of dissident Republicans to pass legislation that most lawmakers and their constituents want. This group began their case by asking for reasonable procedural changes to keep the speaker from having too much power, but now they're using the same tyranny-of-the-minority tactics to block America from defending its allies against terrorists and dictators. The country will now get its long-desired security legislation.
Establishment-critical narrative
There are no political parties in America — just a corrupt group of warmongering neocons with neoliberal ideology obsessed with creating wars via unaffordable legislation. Not only will this bill push US debt closer to the estimated $140 trillion by 2054, but it's also absolutely unnecessary. Even if they wanted to — and they don't — Russia, China, and Iran combined couldn't make a dent in NATO's military capacity. The Republican Party should be dissolved and replaced with a Freedom and Peace Party.