A Vote on Ukraine Aid

Trump New York Trial Diary: Day 2

Good evening:

It looks like we’re finally going to get a House of Representatives vote on Ukraine aid this weekend. The New York Times is reporting that:

The legislative package Mr. Johnson is trying to advance roughly mirrors the $95 billion aid bill the Senate passed two months ago with aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and other American allies, but broken into three pieces that would be voted on individually. There would be a fourth vote on a separate measure containing other policies popular among Republicans, including conditioning Ukraine aid as a loan and a measure that could lead to a nationwide TikTok ban.

The legislation includes $60 billion for Kyiv; $26 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza; and $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific.

This is an unfortunate way to structure the vote. Separating the Senate package into its component parts means that any bill that passes the House will have to go back to the Senate for final passage.

Unfortunate, but perhaps necessary to get the individual components through the House. The majority that supports Ukraine aid, after all, includes a bunch of left Democrats who are opposed to military aid for Israel. And the majority that supports Israel aid includes some MAGA types who oppose Ukraine aid. Bunching the two together, along with the Taiwan aid, worked in the Senate, but it might not work in the House, where the politics are really fractious.

The bottom line is that we must be grateful that this day has finally come—and angry that it has taken so long. A lot of Ukrainians, soldiers and civilians alike, have died while House Speakers Kevin McCarthy and Mike Johnson stalled on this vote. The key priority now is getting this done as quickly as humanly possible and then surging resupply to the Ukrainians before their military situation erodes further and their cities face further destruction.

In short:

Get.

It.

Done.

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Yes. The range of human experience is vast.

Yes—among other things.

A q-tip and a little alcohol have always worked just fine for me.

Not a lot of evidence of that.

In the long run, death and decomposition.

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Today’s #BeastOfTheDay, special rescue edition:

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Trump Trial Diary, April 17, 2024:

It seems we have some jurors. Seven of them, to be precise. Gotta get eleven more, five more regular jurors and six alternates.

Justice Juan Merchan on Tuesday seemed to think he would be getting jury selection done this week, telling the jurors he has seated to be prepared for opening statements on Monday morning.

My message to Justice Merchan: What about my needs?