The newly elected Speaker of the House, Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson said a standalone bill for Israel aid would come to the House floor this week which indicates that President Biden’s request for aid to Ukraine will be further delayed, The Hill reports.
According to him, the US has to “address lots of things going on around the world,” but “right now, what’s happening in Israel takes immediate attention.”
Earlier, Biden announced he would ask Congress to pass a $100 billion emergency funding request that includes $61 billion for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel’s defense.
Johnson, who was elected the 56th Speaker of the House this month, said he called on the White House during last week’s meeting to separate the funding requests amid concerns Republicans would not support a Ukraine aid package.
Ukraine funding has been a source of debate for some House Republicans, who pushed to keep aid to Kyiv out of funding passed at the end of September. Johnson himself voted against the stopgap funding bill as well as multiple aid packages to Ukraine over the past year.
