The White House is keeping pressure on Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) after the GOP-led House took a weeks-long break from work in Washington, D.C., amid urgent needs. That list includes a foreign aid package recently approved by a bipartisan majority in the Senate that sets up tens of billions of dollars worth of new security assistance for Ukraine, besides helping Israel and Taiwan.
A post from the White House’s official account on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, said Friday: “Instead of passing the bipartisan national security bill or addressing border security, Speaker Johnson gave the House of Representatives a two-week vacation. They need to come back and get to work.” President Joe Biden spoke similarly at a recent campaign event. He predicted that the legislation would pass the House if actually put to a vote.
GOP leadership in the House — a group led by Johnson — has consistently pushed for action on border policy, though members of their own party voted down a bipartisan proposal in the Senate covering that area, with Republicans characterizing the ambitious plan as deficient and evidently preferring to stick with… nothing, in terms of new legislation. The bill would have given the federal government new powers to close the southern border, alongside other updates. House Republicans have sought a jump-start to border wall construction like what Trump often discussed, a return to forcing some asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases are processed in the United States, and other changes.
Some Republicans are also resisting the prospect of producing additional assistance for Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian invasion, though the aid provides economic boosts domestically rather than all the money simply going overseas as some rhetoric from opponents might suggest. Ukraine is facing a series of Russian military advances within its territory amid supply shortages.
