On Sunday, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) discouraged the GOP-led House from voting on a new foreign aid package if it lacks border security reforms.
With the House expected to consider foreign aid legislation in the coming days, Vance told Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo he does not want Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to bend.
“I think Speaker Johnson is a good guy, but if he brings up a foreign aid package, sending billions of dollars to Ukraine, without doing anything on the southern border, it will be a disgrace and a massive betrayal, not just of Republican voters, but of the entire country,” Vance said on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
🚨WATCH: Senator @JDVance1 RIPS latest GOP effort prioritizing Ukraine aid over border security
“I think Speaker Johnson is a good guy, but if he brings up a foreign aid package sending billions of dollars to Ukraine without doing anything on the border, it will be a disgrace.” pic.twitter.com/yNIylx7X96
— Senator Vance Press Office (@SenVancePress) April 7, 2024
The Democrat-led Senate passed in February a $95 billion foreign aid bill that would allocate further support for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan in response to President Joe Biden’s national security supplemental request.
A bipartisan immigration deal had been tacked onto the legislation, but its provisions were dropped after a group of Republicans and leftist senators blocked the larger bill from advancing.
Vance was one of the Republican senators who opposed the immigration deal, claiming it allowed the Biden administration to bypass enforcement mechanisms.
Johnson, who is working with a narrow Republican majority in the House, said on Fox News last weekend that lawmakers were “working to build a consensus” on national security issues, beginning with U.S. border security.
The speaker said House members would be considering foreign aid upon returning to Washington, D.C., after the Easter recess along with “important innovations” such as the use of The REPO act, a loan to Ukraine, and more.
Vance said he hopes Johnson “really shows some steely resolve” and “pushes back against the craziness, and tells the Biden administration, you don’t get a dime for your foreign priorities until you do your job and secure the border.”
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As a longer-term solution, Vance argued, Republicans need to work on getting former President Donald Trump re-elected to the White House in the 2024 contest because of his hardline stances on border security and immigration.
Vance is reportedly one of the Republicans under Trump’s consideration as a potential running mate.
“We know that the Biden administration has thrown open the floodgates here. They have undone a lot of Trump-era immigration policy, and we have seen the effects,” Vance said.
“But I don’t want to let congressional Republicans off the hook here, because we actually do have leverage,” he added. “We just have to be willing to actually use it.”