{"id":6580,"date":"2023-10-23T18:25:36","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T18:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=6580"},"modified":"2023-10-23T19:15:43","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T19:15:43","slug":"bidens-funding-request-takes-fire-has-little-hope-in-stalled-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=6580","title":{"rendered":"Biden\u2019s Funding Request Takes Fire, Has Little Hope in Stalled House"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/bidens-funding-request-takes-fire-has-little-hope-in-stalled-house\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Biden\u2019s<\/p>\n

President Joe Biden requested more than $100 billion for a range of domestic and international issues, but that proposition has taken criticism and has little chance of moving forward unless the House of Representatives elects a speaker amenable to the idea.<\/p>\n

Biden made the request in a speech Friday, asking for about $105 billion in funding. According to the White House, Biden\u2019s request includes $61 billion for Ukraine in its war against Russia, $14 billion for U.S. immigration problems, and about $14 billion for Israel, which is locked in a war with the terrorist group, Hamas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Israel, we must make sure that they have what they need to protect their people today and always,\u201d Biden said in his address.<\/p>\n

The request also includes $10 billion for humanitarian aid in Israel, Gaza and Ukraine and elsewhere as well as $2 billion for nations in the Indo-Pacific region, most notably Taiwan, which national security experts say could be invaded by China at any time.<\/p>\n

That request came the same day that House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, lost his nomination to be speaker of the House, sending Republicans back to square one in their search for a leader and leaving the legislative chamber impotent for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

Biden visited Israel last week to show his support for Israel\u2019s \u201cright to defend itself.\u201d He has cautioned Israel against occupying Gaza, the small region where Hamas launched its attacks into Israel, reportedly killing more than 1,400 and taking dozens of hostages.<\/p>\n

Democrats were quick to back Biden and his request.<\/p>\n

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., joined in on X as well to back Biden, saying \u201cit\u2019s our duty to support Ukraine and Israel as they fight to defend their democracies.\u201d<\/p>\n

House Republicans have been without a speaker for over two weeks after Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., filed a motion to vacate former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., from the spot. The Republicans most likely to replace McCarthy have failed for one reason or another since then, unable to secure the needed 217 votes.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, nine new Republicans threw their hat in the ring to be speaker, but they all have less political clout, and likely less chance of successs, than the Republicans who already failed before them.<\/p>\n

Without a speaker, Biden\u2019s funding request cannot go anywhere, though it remains unclear if there is enough Republican support for more Ukraine funding to pass this spending request.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, lawmakers face another partial government shutdown deadline in the middle of November.<\/p>\n

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., backed Biden\u2019s spending request and took a shot at Republicans for failing to select a speaker.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn his Oval Office address, the President strongly reiterated America\u2019s commitment to the people of Israel and the people of Ukraine as they defend their democracies. Congress must swiftly consider the President\u2019s request for supplemental national security funding, including humanitarian assistance for the people of Gaza,\u201d Pelosi said in a statement. \u201cIt is long overdue for House Republicans to bring the House to order so we can honor this responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Republicans were critical of the prioritization in Biden\u2019s request.<\/p>\n

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., wrote on X that Israel should be the focus of the funding. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., released a statement calling Biden\u2019s request \u201cdead on arrival.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Biden\u2019s slush fund proposal is dead on arrival, just like his budgets,\u201d Cotton said. \u201cWe will not spend, for example, $3.5 billion to address the \u2018potential needs of Gazans,\u2019 essentially functioning as a resupply line for Hamas terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to criticize other components of Biden\u2019s request.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will also not spend $11.8 billion to fund the Ukrainian government\u2019s own non-war spending, such as funding retirement pensions for Ukrainian government employees,\u201d Cotton said. \u201cNor will we spend $4.7 billion for housing, transportation, and \u2018services\u2019 for illegal aliens in the United States rather than deporting them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Budget experts, meanwhile, have repeatedly raised the alarm about increased federal debt spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolicymakers should also avoid turning an emergency supplemental bill into a grab-bag of new priorities,\u201d Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. \u201cEmergency funding should be for provisions that are temporary, necessary, sudden, urgent, and unforeseen. Policies that don\u2019t meet these criteria should be considered through the regular process and subject to normal budget rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacGuineas was critical of the ongoing federal spending in her reaction to Biden\u2019s speech. The CRFB has pointed out that the trust funds for Medicare, Social Security and highways are facing insolvency and that interest on the national debt is on pace to be the biggest expense for the federal government.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, failing to address our high and rising debt will leave us far less capable of responding to new emergencies while presenting growing economic and national security risks,\u201d MacGuineas said. \u201cAs Congress works to enact emergency appropriations, they should also begin the process of reining in our unsustainably rising debt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casey Harper
\nGo to Source<\/a>
\nReposted with permission<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/bidens-funding-request-takes-fire-has-little-hope-in-stalled-house\/ President Joe Biden requested more than $100 billion for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-right-now"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6580"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6582,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6580\/revisions\/6582"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}