The Growing Republican Battle Over War Funding

from The New York Times I'm Sabrina. tavernes and this is the. [Music]. daily it's been one month since the. attack on Israel but Washington has yet. to deliver an aid package to its closest. Ally the reason has to do with a. different Ally in a different War today. my colleague Katie Edmonson on the. battle within the Republican party over.

whether to keep funding. Ukraine it's Tuesday November. 7th Katie nice to see you good to see. you Sabrina where am I catching you I. see some very uh ornate mirrors in the. background yeah it's my house actually. no I'm in the in the Senate press. Gallery which also I apologize for any. noise in the background so Katie okay. we're going to ignore the noise and. we're going to just dive into it here we.

spent a lot of time over the past year. talking about the many battles playing. out on Capitol Hill of course the most. recent one was the fight among House. Republicans over who would become. speaker but the war between Hamas and. Israel has created a whole new battleing. Congress and that's over the question of. funding Foreign Wars Israel is of course. a very close Ally of the United States. and as you know normally we throw tons. of money at our close Ally and no one. would really question it but it sounds.

like that's not what's happening right. now so tell me what's going on that's. right I mean we're in kind of a striking. moment where we're about a month in. after the war broke out and Congress has. yet to send any emergency aid to Israel. and actually at the moment is not close. to doing so the house introduced this. sharply partisan bill for Israel funding. last week one that basically was Dead on. Arrival in the Senate and so they're. kind of back to square one on this and.

why is that I mean it's extremely. unusual for Congress to be having these. types of partisan fights over emergency. aid especially to an ally like Israel. but what I think what we're seeing play. out really reflects that it's a very. fraught moment politically on Capitol. Hill when it comes to funding actually a. different conflict which is the war in. Ukraine the war in Ukraine yeah that's. right so I think to really understand. the dynamic of what's going on here you.

have to look back to a couple weeks ago. when President Biden gave an address in. the Oval Office good evening my fellow. Americans we're facing an inflection. point in history one of those moments. where the decisions we make today are. going to determine the future for. decades to come making the case. essentially that it is imperative that. America sends Aid to Israel and. continues to send Aid to Ukraine as well. you know the assault on Israel nearly 20.

months of War tragedy and brutality. inflicted on the people of Ukraine and. so in that address he's really linking. these two conflicts together he's. linking together the importance of. aiding both Israel and Ukraine Hamas and. Putin represent different threats but. they share this in common they both want. to completely annihilate a neighboring. democracy completely annihilated it and. tying those two together is a really. important piece of his pitch America.

values are what make us a partner that. other nations want to work with to put. all that at risk if we walk away from. Ukraine if we turn our backs on Israel. it's just not worth it the case he is. really making in that speech was that. this is an important moment for America. to lead to show that we support our. allies and that we support our allies. crucially in standing up to tyrants and. terrorists abroad that's why tomorrow. I'm going to send to Congress an urgent.

budget request to fund America's. national security needs to support our. critical Partners including Israel and. Ukraine I remember that speech I. remember watching it and you know the. idea was kind of American leadership is. what holds the world together if Putin. wins that will only embolden Hamas these. things are all connected but why did. Biden feel the need to tie the two. together like why was that important to. do in the speech well it's two things. Sabrina one is exactly the ideology that.

you just articulated that is something. that the White House truly believes but. it is also nodding to a political. reality on the hill that has really. complicated efforts to continue sending. Aid to Ukraine and that is among House. Republicans funding Ukraine continuing. to send military aid to keev has become. a politically toxic issue for a sizable. number of lawmakers and their voters and. so from the White House's perspective by. linking together funding for Israel.

which has strong support in Washington. right now along with funding for Ukraine. right the Hope in the Biden. Administration is that they can get more. of these Ukraine Skeptics on board okay. so Katie let's dig into that so you've. just told me a growing number of House. Republicans no longer want to fund. Ukraine so break that down for me well I. think that this is part of a larger. Trend that we started to see honestly. when former president Donald Trump came. into office which was really the idea.

among Republicans that the idea of. American leadership around the globe. when it comes to Foreign Wars was. actually not a positive thing that if. the US is spending money it should be. benefiting Americans rather than people. abroad but I think we really saw this. crystallize uh when it comes to the war. in Ukraine over the past year or two and. you know SAA I travel across the country. a fair amount to go to Congressional. Town Halls Town Halls that l makers have.

and almost every single time I have been. to a town hall in a deeply conservative. District congressional district without. fail you will hear constituents. extremely angry at the idea of you know. if I'm having trouble paying for my. medication if I'm having trouble you. know putting dinner on the table for my. family why are we sending all of this. money over to another country and so. that is something that lawmakers. Republican lawmakers tell me that they.

hear all of the time that they have. really. metabolized and you know at the. beginning of the war we heard a lot of. rhetoric from House Republicans saying. you know Putin is a tyrant we can't. allow this to happen you know we're. praying for those in Ukraine but the. longer that this war has dragged out. we've heard less and less of that and. we've heard more and more questions. about what's the endgame here how much. money can we really be expected to send. over there and a lot of it is really. motivated by what they're hearing from. their constituents I mean it makes sense.

to some extent right because you know. the counter offensive in Ukraine has. been going on for months the ukrainians. haven't taken much territory and you. know it's hard to get people excited. about dumping a lot more money into what. is from their perspective a losing. battle Yeah I think there's also a lot. of PTSD among voters uh with respect to. the wars in the Middle East Afghanistan. Iraq I talked to some Republican. holsters who have looked at this issue.

and what we also see in the polls is. that funding Ukraine you know with every. month essentially becomes a little less. popular among Republican voters and of. course Republican lawmakers particularly. those up for reelection every two years. want to be extremely responsive to that. and increasingly do not want to be seen. taking an up or down vote on the house. floor sending billions of dollars to. another country and Katie just to be. clear this logic of not wanting to send. foreign aid to Ukraine you know that the.

constituents are talking about why. doesn't it apply to sending foreign aid. to Israel in this moment for House. Republicans yeah you know it's a really. complicated answer but the bottom line. for a lot of these Republican lawmakers. who are against continuing to send money. to keev but feel comfortable or in fact. support sending money to Israel is that. they simply see Israel as being. different they see it as a longtime Ally. of the United States one that because of.

sort of historical background is. important to support and so when they. think about their support for Israel. it's a completely different calculation. than when they're thinking about Ukraine. so basically this Biden measure was kind. of his way of trying to salvage funding. for Ukraine by riding on the coils of. this Sky High support that Israel has in. Washington basically saying to. Republicans you know you guys I know a. lot of you aren't really sure about. supporting Ukraine anymore but you can't. say no to Israel right yeah that's right.

but what you see from speaker Johnson is. that not only does he defy that request. by deciding that he is going to put just. a standalone Israel bill on the floor. but he actually moves to further spite. Democrats on this vote and what we see. in this bill is that he adds a provision. to the bill that says in order to pay. for $4 billion doar of new spending and. emergency aid for Israel that they are. going to take back $14 billion that.

Congress previously had passed to help. bulk up the IRS so that it could recoup. more tax money and that has the added. benefit of being good politics for the. Republican conference because. Republicans hated that Landmark bill. that President Biden passed the. inflation reduction act and while. speaker Johnson says that he added this. provision simply as a nod to fiscal. responsibility we actually see him in.

interviews sort of dare Democrats wink. at Democrats and say you know you're. going to have to show us who you'd. rather support Israel or IRS agents so. this move right off the bat infuriates. Democrats and that anger only grows when. the Congressional budget office which is. a nonpartisan budget office comes out. and says actually this bill this offset. that speaker Johnson has been touting. actually is going to grow the deficit. it's actually not financially. responsible at all because the.

government is going to lose so much. money from tax revenue so Democrats are. basically like no way I mean look it's a. tough vote for a lot of them because a. lot of them do not want to be seen as. doing anything to undermine Israel. particularly at this fraught moment but. essentially the bill that speaker. Johnson created for them to vote on ends. up becoming toxic for most of them and. of course as you said that bill was Dead. on Arrival in the Senate which is of. course controlled by democrats that's.

right hours before the house even took. its vote Senator Chuck Schumer the. majority leader said that the Senate. wouldn't even entertain the house passed. bill that the Senate wouldn't even try. to amend it somehow and that Senators. would instead craft their own. legislation to fund both Ukraine and. Israel and the interesting twist here. really is that while over in the house. we saw Republicans and Democrats.

bitterly divided over this bill crafted. by Speaker Johnson over in the Senate. there's actually kind of a rare meeting. of the minds among Senate Republicans. Senate Democrats and the White House. when it comes to Ukraine funding which. is they want to keep helping our allies. in. keev and that sets up what is likely to. be a bitter Rift within the Republican. Party in the weeks to. come.

[Music]. we'll be right. back so Katie you said that there's a. split among republicans in Congress on. this question of War funding for Ukraine. you know the House Republicans oppose it. but the Senate Republicans actually. support it so tell me about that yeah. that's right obviously there are handful. of exceptions but largely what we've.

seen is that House Republicans view this. issue as being fairly toxic for them. among their voters whereas Senate. Republicans many of them are really more. sort of in the old school style of. establishment Republican who believes in. sort of a muscular US military presence. abroad believes in the idea of the us. being a leader on the global stage and. really sort of all of those viewpoints. are most clearly personified ified in. the leader of the Senate Republican.

conference Mitch McConnell who has been. really the most vocal Republican on the. issue of the importance of continuing to. send Aid to Ukraine so Mitch McConnell. is tying the two together in the same. way that Biden is right Israel and. Ukraine and funding for them that's a. real contrast with the new guard in the. house that's pretty opposed to us. interventionism and you know kind of. less interested overall in foreign. policy and and Foreign Wars absolutely. McConnell sees this as being I think one. of the most important political fights.

that is currently on the world stage he. has really taken it upon himself and I. think he sees this partially as. something that he wants to build into. his own legacy as someone who may retire. in the years to come simply because of. his age and so he has really been. traveling across the United States. across the globe to try to make the case. to Republican politicians and Republican. voters that sending Aid to Ukraine is a. worthwhile investment and he has also.

been remarkably candid about how he is. concerned by this sort of rising wave of. isolationist feeling in his own party I. went in and talked with him in his. office May of last year and essentially. what he said to me was not exactly in. these words was I wanted to show the. world that the Republican conference the. Senate Republican conference does not. adhere to the isolation viewpoints of. former president Donald Trump and you.

know for anyone who covers McConnell. those were such strikingly candid words. coming from him I honestly nearly fell. out of my chair when he said that but I. think this all points to the idea that. he views this as an existential battle. that he is willing to lay his own. personal Capital down on the line for. and so this campaign from McConnell. really picks up in the last couple of. weeks some say our support for Ukraine. comes at the expense of more.

important. priorities but as I said every time I. thought the chance this is a false. Choice he speaks in Kentucky his home. state of course with the Ukrainian. ambassador to make the case of why we. should send more Aid to ke the path. toward greater security for all of us is. simple help Ukraine win the. war and pretty much every single day on. the Senate floor he uses his daily.

speech the notion that this money is. distracting from America's other. security. priorities is nonsense to again make the. argument that in fact the fight in. Israel is intertwined with the fight in. Ukraine and we have to fund both that it. would be Folly to think that somehow. they're not connected so at the risk of. repeating myself the threats facing. America and our allies are serious and. they're. intertwined if we ignore that fact we do.

so at our own Peril and that Congress. again must fund both Israel and Ukraine. now is not the time for the leader of. the Free World to go to. [Music]. sleep okay but he can't tell the House. Republicans what to do right I mean. after all he is a senator like how much. does his position actually matter given. the fact that the GOP in the house does. what it wants really has been kind of.

its own Chaos Agent of late well look I. think that he sees and accurately so. that he does have a bully pulpit as the. Republican leader in the Senate and it. is clear that he is trying to use that. to advance this argument that America. should continue helping our allies in ke. that being said I think you're right. Sabrina that there are a number of House. Republicans who view him as being. insufficiently conservative who don't. necessarily want to take his advice. viice for that reason on What.

legislation they should pass a number of. House Republicans in the ascendant far. right of the Republican house Republican. conference view him as a rhino which is. Republican and name only exactly sort of. the most derisive label you can slap on. another Republican and so what that. means is that McConnell's leverage. really stays in the Senate it is about. keeping his own Conference of Senate. Republicans United around this idea of. funding both Ukraine and Israel. and this matters because eventually.

these two Chambers are going to have to. negotiate or compromise or you know come. to some sort of version of legislation. that they both can agree on passing and. look when it comes to negotiations the. Senate will build up a lot of Leverage. if they have a big block of bipartisan. votes for one bill to fund both Ukraine. and Israel so then How likely is it that. this effort to get the house behind. funding for Ukraine will actually.

succeed well there are a number of. different strategies I think that both. Senate Democrats and the White House and. maybe even Senate Republicans are eyeing. in an attempt to get House Republicans. to just swallow this bill that they. really would prefer not to one is that. we are coming up against a government. funding deadline at the end of next week. so I think there's one school of thought. that maybe you try to just roll all of. this up into one big Bill a bill that. keeps the government open that funds.

Israel and that also funds Ukraine it's. the idea of sugar to make the medicine. go down but in this time it's also. keeping the government open which. Republicans don't really want a shutdown. right now so that is one option and of. course all roads lead back through. speaker Mike Johnson right so what does. that mean for the fate of all of this. well there are a couple of different. Dynamics at play here one is that you. have to remember that he is the very. freshly elected speaker and that the.

speaker before him Kevin McCarthy was. pushed out of the speaker's office. because he put two critical bills on the. house floor for a vote and used. Democratic votes to push them through. you have to imagine those are two. lessons that he's thinking a lot about. right now now at the same time in some. of the public comments he has made He. has expressed openness to maybe trying. to pair Ukraine funding with border. security funding so you know he's. showing some signs of flexibility there.

but again it is a potentially very. treacherous path that he is about to. walk down with really no experience mhm. so look I mean this has been a crazy. congress with a lot of twists and turns. I don't want to predict how this is. going to end I do think at the end of. the day this is an issue that is so. important for the White House for. Schumer for mconnell even for a handful. of Republicans over in the house I have. to believe that they find some way to. pass this to get this aid for Ukraine.

through and across the finish line but I. think it's going to be a pretty bitter. and messy battle and of course Aid to. Ukraine is about a lot more than just. another fight in Congress right it's. about the biggest war in Europe since. World War II that was started by Russia. and preventing a critical us Ally. Ukraine from losing it and you know. we're coming to a moment in the war. where it looks like there's actually a. danger of that the top Commander there. General zusan he told The Economist.

magazine last week that his army was at. a stalemate like he actually used that. word he said there'd be no quote deep. and beautiful breakthrough like he'd. been hoping and the reality is American. funding has been keeping Ukraine afloat. in a pretty significant way so if the US. doesn't continue it Ukraine's fight. against Russia could actually collapse I. mean not immediately but it would happen. well you're right supr and it's not only. operationally important but it's.

symbolically important right if the US. pulls its support then potentially you. have other European countries saying. well if the US isn't chipping in why. should we chip in um I was actually. reporting in Germany for a few months. over the summer and at the end of. interviews with German politicians I. would say you know is there anything. about us politics that I can tell you. about or that you're interested in and. without fail people would ask me about. the fate of funding for Ukraine if.

Republicans were to take the White House. in 2024 if a republican was to come into. the White House in 2025 and in a lot of. their minds I think that was going to be. the moment where they had to fear that. maybe the plug would be pulled on. Ukraine funding I think a lot of them. have been surprised now to see that that. debate actually has come far earlier. than they. anticipated right that patience for. Ukraine and funding Ukraine could be. running out sooner than European allies.

expected and of course that's exactly. what Putin was counting on right our. colleagues have reported multiple times. this is a leader who understands that. his competitive Advantage is waiting out. the West that he will always care more. than the West about Ukraine and the West. eventually will lose interest and it. looks like maybe that's what's starting. to happen yeah that's right and that is. really the challenge for mccon and other. Republican members of Congress who want.

to sustain the flow of Aid to. [Music]. keev and look it's something that I'm. sure they are hearing from their. European counterparts all the time which. is the idea of the US choosing to now. choke off the aid that it sends to keev. is simply a frightening. Prospect and would in some ways prove. Vladimir Putin right that's right.

Katie thank you thank you. [Music]. Sabrina we'll be right. back here's what else you need to know. today on Monday Donald Trump took the. witness stand for the first time in a. Civil Trial in New York in which he is.

accused of significantly inflating his. net worth to defraud Banks and. insurers Trump the leading Republican. Contender for the presidency brought a. combative campaign style energy to the. courtroom in roughly 4 hours of. testimony he attacked New York's. attorney general Leticia James who. brought the case as a quote political. hack he derided the proceedings as. unfair and he scolded the judge. overseeing the case who for his part.

appealed to Trump's lawyer to reign in. the former president saying quote this. is not a political. rally and the Israeli military said its. forces had split the Gaza Strip in two. after a night of heavy air strikes a. move that Israel said would make it more. difficult for Hamas to control the. Enclave Israeli officials made the. announcement after two Israeli columns. surrounded Gaza City which is densely.

populated in in the northern half of the. Gaza Strip effectively cutting it off. from the south Israeli officials have. described the city as a Hamas. stronghold also the Gaza Health Ministry. announced its latest casualty figures. stating that in the past month Israeli. air strikes have killed more than 10,000. people in. Gaza today's episode was was produced by. Rob zipco Carlos PRI Stella tan and ASA.

chaturv it was edited by Devin Taylor. with help from Paige cowt contains. original music by Dan Powell and Maran. Lozano and was engineered by Alyssa. Moxley our theme music is by Jim. brunberg and Ben lansberg of. [Music]. [Music]. wonderly. that's it for the daily I'm Sabrina.

Tavern see you. [Music]. tomorrow.