'We Are in Dire Straits': Speaker Johnson Puts Mandatory Conditions on Israel Military Aid Package
Speaker Mike Johnson will not consider bringing to the House floor a bill for Israeli military aid that doesn’t also include spending cuts elsewhere to offset the expense, he told reporters Thursday.
Asked whether he’d bring such a bill to the floor in light of President Joe Biden’s threatened veto of a recent bill that would pay for the aid by cutting funds to the Internal Revenue Service, Johnson’s position seemed unequivocal.
“Listen, we are in dire straits as a nation,” he said.
“If you talk to leaders at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon — sometimes, even in recent years, under oath they’ve testified before the House Armed Services Committee where I served until last week — if you ask them what the greatest threat is to our national security, you would expect — most people expect they’d say China, Russian, Iran, terrorism. They say it’s the national debt.
“We have to address it. We have obligations and we have commitments. And we want to protect and help our friend Israel, but we have to keep our own house in order as well,” he explained. “And I think people at home, I think the American people understand that.”
You can see Johnson’s comments here:
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) says he won’t consider a bill funding aid to Israel that doesn’t include federal spending cuts:
“We are in dire straits as a nation … We want to protect and help and assist our friend Israel, but we have to keep our own house in order as well.” pic.twitter.com/f1jeyifMCZ
— The Recount (@therecount) November 2, 2023
“At home, you have to balance your budget,” Johnson explained. “At home, you have to make tough decisions. And Washington should run the same way.
“And so, we are here to change the environment. To change the paradigm, the way Washington thinks. If we continue on the trajectory we’re on, it’s going to hurt our country terribly. And it’s going to hurt hardworking Americans even more, seniors, and the rest.”
Johnson said he’d made the same point in a meeting with Biden that he described as “cordial” as well as to those members of Biden’s cabinet with whom he has met, as well as to Senate Republicans when he spoke at a luncheon with them on Wednesday.
“We’re going to do this in a responsible manner, and that’s a very important principle for us,” he concluded.
Johnson also said he and the House Republicans were committed to supporting Israel, and said that recent calls from Democrats for a ceasefire in Gaza were “kind of disturbing.”
“There was a ceasefire,” Johnson said. “It was before October 7th. And Hamas broke it.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said it is “disturbing” that Democrats are calling for a ceasefire in Israel: “Israel doesn’t need a ceasefire, they need their allies to cease with the politics and deliver support now. And that’s what we’re doing.” pic.twitter.com/RU7tIn4g5x
— CSPAN (@cspan) November 2, 2023
“Israel doesn’t need a ceasefire,” Johnson said. “It needs its allies to cease with the politics and deliver support now.”
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