Rep. Brian Mast doesn’t expect President Joe Biden’s request for foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel to pass Congress.
Mast expressed his pessimism in the president’s supplemental funding proposal, which requested an additional $100 billion, on Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street Saturday, a day after the Congress received it. Some $60 billion is proposed to go to Ukraine, while $14 million would go to Israel.
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“I think it’s dead on arrival,” Mast said of the request. “Now, luckily, you have the ability in Congress to say: ‘the president does not write policy, legislation or hold the pursestrings in that way.’ So in Congress we get to originate that bill however we want.”
At the moment, this request is a moot point, as the House of Representatives can’t take up any business, including addressing a looming government shutdown deadline of Nov. 17, until it elects a new speaker. Saturday was the 18th day without a speaker, and there isn’t currently a permanent nominee for the position.
“I think, absolutely, it will be separated. Ukraine aid, Israel aid, aid to Taiwan, aid to the southern border, you name it,” Mast went on. “I think certainly in the House of Representatives you will see those be individual action items, and if they are the not, it will be dead.”
Mast is the single representative to have served in both the United States Army and the Israel Defense Forces. Presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy similarly told the Washington Examiner Saturday that any aid to Israel should be carefully considered.
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“The U.S. should be clear with Israel that further U.S. support is contingent on Israel identifying clear objectives for success in Gaza and a coherent plan for what comes after toppling Hamas, even if Israel is successful in doing so. As of now, these critical questions remain unanswered,” Ramaswamy said.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted as speaker in the first place because disgruntled House Republicans did not like his process to have only one up or down vote on the entire government’s funding, where they would rather vote on each budget item line by line.
