Pete King to Newsmax: Speaker showed leadership and courage in voting

Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson showed leadership and courage in his effort to pass a raft of foreign aid legislation, particularly aid to Ukraine, while facing political repercussions, including threats to to call a vote to unseat him, former Rep. Pete King said. Newsmax Sunday.

“I strongly supported these bills, especially the aid to Ukraine, because it is aid for America,” said the New York Republican, who appeared on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America” with former Georgia Republican Jack Kingston. “That to me is a strong vote for American foreign policy to protect American lives and jobs.”

Johnson, R-La., will “take a hit in the short term” for his work with Democrats that led to the bills passing by wide margins, but “when people look at it overall, they realize he did the right thing,” King said. added.

“There is a small margin within the party that has an outsized voice in opposing aid to Ukraine, but I give him credit,” he said. “It was. It was a difficult decision to make, but he did it and I support him.”

Some of the five-part legislation, which addressed border security, did not pass, and Kingston said that’s because immigration has become a partisan issue.

“If you look back 20 years ago, Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton were for building a wall and we passed it,” Kingston said. “Peter will routinely recall whether he was part of the appropriations bill to fund walls and fortify the border.”

But now the issue is a partisan battle and a question of President Joe Biden versus former President Donald Trump, Kingston said.

“The only way we’re going to get any kind of border law is to absolutely force it,” he said. “That’s why this group was so frustrated yesterday. They felt that financing Ukraine was a high Biden priority, and they wanted to demand the price for it and get the price in the form of some kind of border security, and they didn’t succeed. .”

The financing measures had to come, Kingston agreed, “but I also think we should have gotten something in return.”

King agreed that he also supports the border legislation, but a big part of the problem is that Biden used executive orders to rescind Trump’s policies.

But because some Republicans are undermining the speaker, passing border legislation will be difficult, King said.

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