Former Congressman Jack Kingston was right when he said on Newsmax TV (on Sunday) that a controversial bill in the House of Representatives to approve $60 billion in military aid for Ukraine was a necessary vote.
This was not a major win for democracy.
It was only a minor win for Biden and Ukraine.
It was not a loss for the Republicans or Donald Trump.
What this really amounted was a vote to prevent Ukraine from losing to Russia — at least for now.
However, it was a huge win — both for Israel and the United States — when an Israel aid bill that was part of the same foreign aid package passed the House by a wide margin of 366-58.
The House also passed Indo-Pacific aid and TikTok/Iran sanctions bills.
Russia has made slow progress against Ukraine this year.
Some are calling it a resurgence.
With Ukraine running low on arms and troops, it could suffer significant losses this summer. That’s why the military aid package was so crucial.
Many Republican House members are angry that the Ukraine bill passed only because of Democratic support. The vote was 311-112 with a majority of Republican House members voting no; one abstained.
Many House Republicans strongly objected that there is still no Biden plan to end the war or negotiate a cease-fire.
Republican House members also are livid that the border security part of the aid package failed to pass.
These are valid concerns.
But U.S. House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., did what was politically possible given the razor thin GOP majority in the House and the refusal of Democrats to pass serious border security measures.
Johnson risked his speakership to pass bills providing military assistance to Ukraine and Israel. He knew that the Democrats are so obsessed with keeping an open U.S. southern border that they would let bills providing military aid to Ukraine and Israel fail and blame Republicans.
The best solution for the war in Ukraine is to end it by implementing a cease-fire and holding peace talks.
But this will not happen this year for three reasons:
- First, the Biden administration continues to insist against all evidence that Ukraine can somehow win the war if the U.S. continues to provide it with arms.
- Second, the Biden officials refuse to consider diplomacy to end the war.
- Third, even if the administration changes its mind and started pursuing a cease-fire and peace talks, because of President Biden’s poor foreign policy record and weak leadership, the chance of this succeeding is be very poor.
I therefore believe Congress should approve the military aid Ukraine needs to defend itself in 2024 so Donald Trump, if he wins the Oval Office back in November, he can end the war when he assumes the presidency in January, 2025.
The former president said during a CNN townhall last year that his priority is to stop the killing in Ukraine.
I believe Trump’s determination to do this and his decisive presidential leadership could end the Russia-Ukraine War fairly quickly.
But for Trump to end the war, Ukraine has to make it through 2024. Mike Johnson risked his speakership to give the former former president a chance to do this.
Fred Fleitz is a Newsmax TV Contributor. He previously served as National Security Council Chief of staff, CIA analyst, and as a member of the House Intelligence Committee staff. Read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
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