Jeffries: GOP is ‘out of excuses’ on foreign aid

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said House Republicans were “out of excuses” and must “act immediately” to pass the Senate-passed national security supplemental bill to aid foreign allies including Ukraine and Israel.

In a “Dear Colleague” letter released Monday, Jeffries joined a chorus of lawmakers and government officials using the Iranian attack on Israel this past weekend to underscore the urgency of passing immediate foreign aid — which for months has been stalled in Congress.

“Extreme MAGA Republicans are out of excuses. The Ukrainian people are out of time,” Jeffries wrote.

“The gravely serious events of this past weekend in the Middle East and Eastern Europe underscore the need for Congress to act immediately. We must take up the bipartisan and comprehensive national security bill passed by the Senate forthwith,” Jeffries said. “This is a Churchill or Chamberlain moment. House Democrats will defend democracy and do everything in our legislative power to confront aggression. Will factions within the Republican majority continue to appease it?”

The letter comes as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has pledged to put Ukraine aid on the floor for a vote — despite pushback from factions of the GOP conference — but he has made clear he was trying to work around the Senate-passed bill in the hopes of appeasing some members of his conference. He has not said what the Ukraine aid bill would look like.

Johnson, however, is facing mounting pressure to pass the national security supplemental, which the Senate already passed, thereby making it an attractive option to those prioritizing passing legislation quickly.

President Biden had a phone call Sunday afternoon with the four congressional leaders — Jeffries, Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

The White House said in a statement Sunday that, on the call, “the President discussed the urgent need for the House of Representatives to pass the national security supplemental as soon as possible.”

On Sunday evening, a bipartisan group of nearly 100 lawmakers wrote a letter to Johnson, imploring him to bring the Senate bill to the House floor for a vote. The letter was led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) and signed by 89 colleagues from both sides of the aisle.