The Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, wrote on Friday that as it stands, any vote on new funding for aid to Ukraine as well as strengthening the border with Mexico was ” stillborn.
This comment comes at a time when, according to American media, former president and White House candidate Donald Trump is putting pressure on Republican elected officials to block the budget requests of his rival, Democratic President Joe Biden.
“If the rumors about the content of the bill (currently being debated in the Senate, the other chamber of Congress, editor’s note) are true, it would be stillborn before even arriving before the House of Representatives,” assured Mike Johnson in a letter to American congressmen.
This letter is another negative signal on the outcome of the already very complicated negotiations in the American Congress, which is made up of the Senate, currently with a Democratic majority, and the House, dominated by the Republicans.
Joe Biden is calling for a budgetary increase of some $100 billion to meet pressing needs, first and foremost aid to Ukraine, for which the United States is the leading supplier of military equipment.
Under pressure from Republicans, the subject is now linked in discussions to immigration policy, a leading subject of Donald Trump’s campaign.
The former Republican president accuses his successor of laxity in the face of migrant arrivals at the border with Mexico.
While a compromise in the Senate seemed possible, this prospect suddenly receded this week, and the American press sees it as the work of the 77-year-old tycoon, the big favorite in the Republican primary and who retains a strong hold on the party. .
The last delivery of American military aid to Ukraine was announced on December 27, and the White House has said repeatedly that without a budget extension, there would be no more.