Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz filed an amendment to the Ukraine aid bill Thursday that would make money, allocated for Ukraine in the form of a loan, be repaid and used by the DHS secretary for the construction of a physical barrier at the U.S. southern border.
“Funds repaid by Ukraine pursuant to an agreement under this section shall be made available to the Secretary of Homeland Security, without limitation as to fiscal year, for the construction of a physical barrier along the southern border of the United States,” reads the amendment, first obtained by the Daily Caller.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson announced that the House will vote Saturday on three separate bills regarding $26.4 billion of funding to Israel, $8.1 billion of funding for Taiwan and $61 billion of more aid to Ukraine. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Matt Gaetz Introduces Legislation To Cover Pay For Service Members If Government Shuts Down)
READ THE AMENDMENT HERE:
GAETZ_224_xml by Henry Rodgers
“My amendment to the $60.8 billion dollar, America Last Ukraine aid package should be a no-brainer. If Ukraine pays back any part of the money we are gifting them in this bill, that money should be spent on our nation’s largest domestic problem: the construction of a border wall with Mexico,” Gaetz told the Caller before introducing the amendment.
“Time and again, Republicans have shown that they have no appetite to vote for what the American people demand, but if we have random billions laying around for a war halfway across the world, we should be able to get some table scraps for our own country,” Gaetz added. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Overwhelming Majority Of Swing State Voters Oppose More Ukraine Funding Without Border Deal, Poll Finds)
Johnson said Wednesday he would give members 72 hours to review the pieces of legislation and plan on voting on the bills Saturday.
Johnson appeared to previously support more Ukraine aid on the condition that it was tied to a border security package, saying shortly after his election to the speakership that it was necessary to secure the southern border before turning the United States’ focus to the security of foreign nations.
“You’ve heard me say that we want to pair border security with Ukraine because I think we’d get bipartisan agreement on both of those matters,” Johnson said during at first formal press conference as speaker on Nov. 2, 2023. “We have obligations and we have things that we can and should do around the world, but we have to take care of our own house first. And as long as the border’s wide open, we’re opening ourselves up for great threat.”