Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Everybody saw this coming.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

I desperately hope that, yet again, I am wrong.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Cole is on a roll !

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. don’t touch it.”

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 693: Speaker Johnson Adds Another Nail to the Ukrainian Supplemental Aid Legislation’s Coffin

War for Ukraine Day 693: Speaker Johnson Adds Another Nail to the Ukrainian Supplemental Aid Legislation’s Coffin

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From The New York Times:

Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday dug in against President Biden’s efforts to revive stalled legislation to send aid to Ukraine, saying the Republican-led House would not entertain it unless Democrats agreed to a far more severe crackdown at the U.S.-Mexico border than they have been willing to consider.

Mr. Johnson’s latest ultimatum cast further doubt on the prospects of Congress’s approving Mr. Biden’s request for tens of billions of dollars in emergency security assistance to help Ukraine fight off Russia.

Republicans have insisted that such a package be paired with measures to clamp down on migration at the southwestern border, and a bipartisan group of senators has made considerable progress on striking a compromise to do so. But the plan has no path to enactment if the House, where a sizable far-right contingent is pressing for even tougher immigration policies, refuses to accept it.

I can guarantee that Speaker Johnson’s position was quickly noted in the Kremlin and they were very happy to read about it.

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

The fundamental task is to retain the initiative so that we can become stronger – address by the President of Ukraine

17 January 2024 – 22:12

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

Key points for today.

I held a meeting of the Staff. Operational level – the situation at the front now. Reports from the commanders. Different directions. East. South. North as well – countering subversive groups, fortifying the border.

There was also a strategic level of discussion – our actions this year. And not just defense. Ukraine needs an ambitious, active perspective. We want our country to retain the initiative, not the enemy. We want the end of the war to depend on Ukrainian actions. The world supports those who have a perspective. And this is a fundamental task – to retain the initiative so that we can become stronger.

I also held a debriefing after all the meetings and negotiations within the official visit to Switzerland and participation in the Davos Forum. There were many good, useful meetings. Europe, America, Africa, Asia. We talked to politicians and business leaders.

Today, government officials continued their work at the forum. In particular, to attract more business and technological opportunities to Ukraine – to the defense sector. It is very important that we present not only the needs of Ukraine and our warriors, the entire society, but also, despite all the difficulties of the war, Ukraine’s capabilities – what we do, what we can do, what we can contribute to the common security in Europe.

I held a separate meeting with the Minister of Defense. We are preparing more power for our country.

A meeting with law enforcers. In particular, with the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine. The keynote report was on countering collaborators and destroying enemy logistics. I am grateful to the Service for the results.

Separately, I would like to address the situation with our journalists. In particular, the fact of surveillance of journalists. The Security Service of Ukraine has launched an investigation and will find out all the circumstances. Any pressure on journalists is unacceptable.

Today I would like to recognize and thank all our people who continue to work day and night helping after the Russian strikes. Our rescuers – the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. Local authorities that are truly with their communities, truly with their people. Every Ukrainian doctor. All medical workers. Volunteers. Everyone who helps Kherson and Kherson region, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk region, residents of our frontline and border communities, Kharkiv and the region.

Today there was another Russian air strike on Kupyansk district – two children were injured, including a 10-year-old boy. He was very seriously wounded… One person was killed by that strike. My condolences… It was a deliberate Russian strike with a guided aerial bomb on one of the villages in the Kupyansk district. Kherson is under almost continuous shelling. Unfortunately, there are also wounded and dead. We will definitely respond to the occupiers. And everyone can see that our responses are really tangible.

It is also important not to forget to thank those whose job it is to rescue people after Russian terrorists’ attacks.

Kharkiv: Ihor Fedorchenko, 6th state fire and rescue unit, and Oleksandr Huzhva from the 9th state fire and rescue unit of the region. Thank you!

Odesa: doctor Vladyslav Kryzhanovskyi from the Odesa Regional Emergency Medical Center and firefighters-rescuers: Sergeant Kostiantyn Vilchynskyi and Master Sergeant Serhiy Pihar. Thank you!

Donetsk region: Vladyslav Halushko, a feldsher from the city of Lyman, who works for the State Emergency Service, and Ivan Ponomarenko, a firefighter-rescuer from the city of Toretsk. Thank you very much!

Our Sumy region: Volodymyr Pylypenko and Oleksandr Nebylytsia, employees of the 8th state fire and rescue unit of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, and Vladyslav Lysokon, the city of Shostka, a feldsher at the emergency medical station. I thank you for your professionalism, and I thank all our doctors, all your colleagues, the entire staff of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, each emergency medical team, all doctors, feldshers and nurses.

I thank everyone who cares about Ukraine, our people and our country. I thank everyone who is destroying the occupier and working to hold Russia accountable for everything it has done.

Glory to Ukraine!

Germany:

 

We are grateful to our German friends for their steadfast support. The new package of military aid for Ukraine includes:
◾️Ammo for Leopard 1
◾️24 Armored Personnel Carriers
◾️5 border protection vehicles
◾️16 Zetros tankers
◾️3 vehicles (trucks, minibuses, all-terrain vehicles)
◾️25 RQ-35 Heidrun reconnaissance drones
◾️50 SatCom terminals
◾️1,840 combat helmets
◾️500 LED lamps
◾️material for explosive ordnance disposal

Vielen Dank!
🇺🇦🤝🇩🇪
#StandWithUkraine
@BMVg_Bundeswehr

France:

These announcements from Germany and France are nice to read. But we need to be very honest: until or unless the Biden administration develops an effective legislative strategy to get a supplemental aid package for Ukraine through the GOP majority House, they aren’t going to make a difference. What the GOP is doing now was predictable. It was predictable because they announced back in 2022 that they were going to cut Ukraine off if they retook the House. Instead of doing a Ukraine supplemental while the Democrats still had a majority in the House just in case they lost it, locking that funding in through 2024, the Biden administration decided to wait. And it was that failed legislative strategy that provided the opening for the GOP majority that took over in the House in January 2023 to do what they’re now doing, which is what they told us they were going to do.

Tweet thread between Ruben Gallego and Matt Gaetz regarding Ukraine war funding.

I’m sure Congressman Gallego is NOT happy to have been correct here. But no one can say they were not warned.

Every day that the House GOP holds support for Ukraine hostage, the harder it will become for Ukraine.

Every day there is new reporting about Russia’s military production while neither the US or the EU member states have placed even select portions of their economies on a war footing and while the House GOP slowly strangles its hostage. All the while the Russian leadership watches, listens, reads, and tweaks their strategy to take advantage of the US’s and the EU’s inability to rise to the moment.

President Zelenskyy is correct here:

 

Unfortunately, they are only effective when they have ammunition. And because the House GOP majority is holding the Ukraine supplemental hostage, every time Russia undertakes a bombardment, Ukraine’s supply of that ammunition is further depleted with no real way ahead for resupply.

This isn’t a thought exercise. This isn’t a border skirmish. This is existential.

Stepove, Russian occupied Donetsk Oblast:

An update on the attack on Kharkiv last night:

Soledar, Bakhmut District, Donetsk Oblast:

For you drone enthusiasts:

And for Omnes and the redlegs:

Tonight, Ukraine used the FrankenSAM for the first time in combat conditions. It shot down Shahed from a distance of 9 kilometers.

FrankenSAM is a hybrid air defense system jointly developed by the Pentagon, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Strategic Industry. In fact, these are three anti-aircraft missile complexes: the Soviet Buk air defense system with American RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles, AIM-9M air-to-air missiles in combination with Soviet radars and air defense systems based on Ukrainian old systems with Patriot elements and missiles.

https://babel.ua/amp/news/102928-v-ukrajini-vpershe-zastosuvali-sistemu-ppo-proyektu-frankensam-zbili-shahed-na-vidstani-9-km

Rostov Oblast, Russia:

Bashkorostan, Russia:

That’s enough for tonight.

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Open thread!

Reader Interactions

39Comments

  3. 3.

    MountainBoy

    I have never commented here, but read your updates every day since you you began (or very close to it)
    Thank you so very much Adam.
    I find it shocking that most Americans have brushed the war in Ukraine aside especially the GOP.

  4. 4.

    SpaceUnit

    Europe and the rest of the free world are going to have to step up until we can take out the garbage in November.  Fuck the GOP.

  5. 5.

    japa21

    As usual, thanks Adam. Look, we all know that you think the Biden administration screwed up, and I think they would probably agree with you. The one individual who did the most screwing up was McCarthy. I believe he would definitely have brought a Ukraine funding bill to the floor and it would have passed. But, no, he had to agree with that stupid 1 person bring MTV to the floor and a few Republican reps, some who probably regret their votes, got rid of him.

    That being said, it is all water over the dam, spilled milk, broken eggs, etc. The question is what can be done now. Is there anything the Dems in the House, who also could have prevented this by saving McCarthy, can do now to force the hands of the GOP?

    I don’t have any answers, but I am sure there are folks in the administration working hard on the question.

  6. 6.

    Ohio Mom

    I will never get over my cognitive dissonance that Republicans are now on the side of (who they used to call) the Russian Commies and that they’ve met a war they didn’t like.

    Maybe that will be one of those dividing lines between the generations. Young people will not experience the Republican paranoia about Russia that was so much a part of my growing up and youth. Republicans were fierce hawks back then.

  7. 7.

    trnc

    Did the other large spending bills passed by congress in 2022 make it tougher to get more Ukraine aid? Eg, if more Ukraine aid had been passed, would that have tanked Manchin’s deciding vote for some of the other spending that he bitched about loudly?

  8. 8.

    Gin & Tonic

    Yesterday or the day before, Ukraine’s FM, Dmytro Kuleba, said “we will fight with shovels.”

  9. 9.

    gene108

    @MountainBoy:

    Republicans see an opportunity to hurt Biden’s re-election chances by denying him any success on anything, including Ukraine. This way Trump can talk about how he’d solve the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours, and some people might believe him.

    Republicans have been at the stage where they either rule or let the country go into ruin for the last 20 to 30 years.

  10. 10.

    Chris

    Any thoughts on the Iranian attacks in Iraq, Syria, and Pakistan and what it means for fears of a wider regional war?

  11. 11.

    West of the Rockies

    Senate Republicans have absolutely zero sway on House Republicans?  This is fucking ludicrous.

  12. 12.

    Ksmiami

    Biden needs to take Russian foreign assets and let Ukraine buy the equipment. Mike Johnson is a traitor

  14. 14.

    Mallard Filmore

    I have been in a modest depression cycle recently (just feeling blah and uninspired) so if this has been posted before I have not been here to see it.

    This story really perked me up.

    Start here at DailyKos:  More Russian stuff blowing up  Down toward the end is a tweet about “2 Ukrainian girls in Crimea have poisoned 46 ruzzian soldiers”.  Now you might have heard all that before, but the uplifting part tells how the girls were prepared for the arrival of the FSB team sent to arrest them.

    … the girls shot and killed 3 and then escaped …

    twitter link

  15. 15.

    Another Scott

    HR-7691 was a $40.1B supplemental signed by Biden on 5/21/2022.

    Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide

    (including transfer of funds)

    For an additional amount for “Operation and Maintenance, Defense-
    Wide”, $15,256,824,000, to remain available until September 30, 2022,
    to respond to the situation in Ukraine and for related expenses:
    Provided, That of the total amount provided under this heading in this
    Act, $6,000,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2023, shall
    be for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative: Provided further,
    That such funds for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative shall be
    available to the Secretary of Defense under the same terms and
    conditions as are provided for in section 8139 of the Department of
    Defense Appropriations Act, 2022 (division C of Public Law 117-103):
    Provided further, That of the total amount provided under this heading
    in this Act, up to $9,050,000,000, to remain available until September
    30, 2023, may be transferred to accounts under the headings “Operation
    and Maintenance” and “Procurement” for replacement of defense
    articles from the stocks of the Department of Defense, and for
    reimbursement for defense services of the Department of Defense and
    military education and training, provided to the Government of Ukraine
    or to foreign countries that have provided support to Ukraine at the
    request of the United States: Provided further, That funds transferred
    pursuant to the preceding proviso shall be merged with and available for
    the same purposes and for the same time period as the appropriations to
    which the funds are transferred: Provided further,
    That <> the Secretary of Defense shall
    notify the congressional defense committees of the details of such
    transfers not less than 15 days before any such transfer: Provided
    further, That <> upon a determination that all or
    part of the funds transferred from this appropriation are not necessary
    for the purposes provided herein, such amounts may be transferred back
    and merged with this appropriation: Provided further, That the transfer
    authority provided herein is in addition to any other transfer authority
    provided by law.

    Given that the GQP demanded clawbacks of unspent COVID-19 funding as part of various subsequent budget and debt agreements, I don’t understand why you argue that Democrats bumping up this $40.1B total to some larger number would have somehow meant that the money would have been available to Ukraine now.

    Asking for a ~ $100B supplemental in mid-May 2022 for Ukraine to last through, say, September 2024 likely wasn’t going to go anywhere, even if the BTB were convinced that getting another big supplemental through the House if the GQP took the majority would be difficult or impossible. That was around the time that the 10th drawdown – for $100M – was happening.

    Congress has the power of the purse and can always change its mind, as you know.

    My $0.02.

    We’ll see how things go next week, and afterwards.

    Slava Ukraini!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  17. 17.

    Ksmiami

    @Another Scott: the GOP is an extension of Putin. I know you’re always optimistic, but unless we are willing to truly take out the Republicans, and engage in the actual cold to hot  civil war they’ve started, we have left Ukraine high and dry with massive geopolitical repercussions for us. Nah, I think the US is on borrowed time and our system is failing at all levels.

  18. 18.

    Mike in DC

    Adam, is it possible for the European and other allies to “bridge” Ukraine to next year, covering the gap in support created by US aid ceasing, as much as possible?

  19. 19.

    Bill Arnold

    @Ksmiami:

    Mike Johnson is a traitor

    I had a short dream about Mr. Mike Johnson last night. Mostly it was about attempting to measure his height,, and briefly about an influence op related to him. He was living in a small outbuilding at the place where I was staying.
    Gah. 2024 will be a long year. That guy deserves some serious personal difficulties.

  21. 21.

    Mike in NC

    It’s very likely that Johnson gets dumped in a month or two, to be replaced by Empty Greene or Matt Gaetz.

  22. 22.

    Ksmiami

    @Bill Arnold: I think we the people – the actual  majority will need to take our country back from the fifth column Putinists. And I mean not waiting for elections either. The Constitution ain’t a suicide pact and every action the Republicans have taken are weakening the nation. From Tuberville to this miscreant in the House.

  23. 23.

    Harrison Wesley

    @Ksmiami: I don’t understand what you’re suggesting here.  Are you saying Democrats need to stage a putsch before the Republicans do? I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you, just want to make sure I know what you’re advocating.

  24. 24.

    dr. luba

    One of my kids from summer camp in 1999, then Dasha (russian nickname), now Daria, grew up to be an Apple executive.  She lived and worked in Moscow for a long time, as there was no equivalent position in Ukraine. She is originally from Kharkiv, and showed me around the city in 2001. She grew up in an orphanage, we helped her through university, and received several scholarships (including the Muskie scholarship) to study in the USA.

    I’ve seen her on and off through the years.  She came to Detroit in October and spoke at the UCARE fashion show about the situation in Ukraine.  It was difficult for her.  She has worked with our organization to buy and ship food to the Kharkiv area.  She said that visiting Kharkiv was unreal–one third of her city was just gone.

    But one third is not enough for Putin.  Mordor cannot create, it only destroys.

  25. 25.

    Will

    I too am tired of the repeated Biden administration criticism. These threads aren’t bringing in mounds of new people in so I don’t know why it needs constantly repeated. I think they fucked up too, but I don’t want to talk about it for the 50th time. The milk was spilled, time to move on.

  27. 27.

    Lyrebird

    @dr. luba: Thanks for sharing that story…  good thoughts to Daria and all Kharkiv folk.

    Far less important: Is the UArecipes the FB group on Ukrainian cooking that you might recommend for interested cooks?

  29. 29.

    Anoniminous

    @dr. luba:

    Currently the GOP has 218 seats in the House and is about to go to 217 this weekend (?) because Bill Johnson of Ohio is resigning.  Rogers of Kentucky is recuperating from a car accident.  Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana is being treated for cancer.  So the White People’s Party is now down to an actual effective 3 vote majority: 216 to 213.

    If the steady drip-drip-drip doesn’t stop it’s not inconceivable – however unlikely – the GOP could be the minority party in the House by the end of the summer.

  30. 30.

    YY_Sima Qian

    I think 78 Caesar self-propelled howitzers can maker a difference tactically. However, it is not clear if the number counts that already donated to Ukraine. Furthermore, production rate seems to be only 8 / months, & there are other orders to fill, so it could take quite a while. Finally, howitzers are only useful when there are plenty of 155 mm howitzer shells to shoot off.

  31. 31.

    YY_Sima Qian

    In other news, Pakistan just launched some strikes into the Siestan-o-Baluchistan in Iran, ostensibly to disrupt impending terrorist activities, but clearly in retaliation to the Iranian strike a day ago.

  32. 32.

    Ksmiami

    @Harrison Wesley: use the fact that the House is barely a Republican majority and do what we all can to get the Rt stuff done. Discharge petition, shutting down the house. Sitins, etc.

  34. 34.

    Jesse

    @Mike in NC: Curious to hear why you think that. I thought Johnson enjoyed fairly robust (but not universal) support in the GOP caucus. Do you mean that if Ukraine funding doesn’t get included, there will be a revolt?

  37. 37.

    Chris

    @Will:

    This is what George Dubya advocates started saying sometime in the summer of 2003 and never stopped.  Look forward not back, good men make mistakes, yada yada.

    Sorry that this time it’s happening with someone we voted for.  Sorry that you don’t like hearing about it.  But the extremely predictable and predicted fuckup is continuing to get a bunch of people killed and may yet get an entire country destroyed.  So yeah, we’re going to fucking keep talking about it.

    And quite bluntly, it does this blog a world of good to have at least one series of threads that isn’t grinning “turn that frown upside down!  Sad thoughts are counterrevolutionary!” Panglossianism.

  38. 38.

    Betty Cracker

    @Chris: Co-signed, except for the part in which you perhaps inadvertently implied my grumpy-ass contributions to this blog’s output are Panglossian. But seriously, leaving Ukraine in the lurch makes me ashamed to be an American every goddamned day.

  39. 39.

    Bill Arnold

    In case anyone has lingering illusions about the loathsome smiling Mike Johnson and his horde of like-minded henchmen that need deflating (preserving formatting):
    ‘Border, Border, Border!’ Mike Johnson Can Say The Word ‘Border.’ He’s Very Good Speaker.- Dear God. (wonkette, STEPHEN ROBINSON, JAN 18, 2024)

    Unfortunately, McConnell is a Lex Luthor Republican trying to reason with a cackling Joker House majority. They aren’t interested in actual accomplishments. They want to set everything on fire. The closest they come to a measurable objective is helping Trump win the presidency (by VOTES, which is somewhat quaint, considering most of them supported his coup).
    During an appearance Wednesday night on “The Ingraham Angle,” Johnson admitted that he’s actively taking instruction from Trump, whom he speaks with “frequently.” Trump told him to oppose any deal because he doesn’t need any new legislation to lock up children secure the border.

    The second link is to the iconic “Everything Burns” Joker video clip.
    It is an accurate metaphor.

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