As spiteful as ever and wrong as usual, Rep. Marjory Taylor Greene, the Georgia disrupter, complained that the foreign aid she had tried to thwart “does nothing for America.”
Quite the contrary, it does a lot. It upholds democracy not only in embattled Ukraine, but also in the halls of Congress. Once again, if belatedly, politics has been stopped at the water’s edge.
Aside from the moral imperative, sending arms to assist Ukraine is inexpensive insurance against having to send American troops to defend one or more of our NATO allies from Vladimir Putin’s aggressive ambitions. His current war is as much about testing Western resolve as Ukraine’s resistance.
According to a secret Kremlin policy document the Washington Post , Russia believes that the outcome in Ukraine will “to a great degree determine the outlines of the future world order.” The document calls for an “offensive information campaign” as part of a broad cold war against a “coalition of unfriendly countries” led by the United States, the Post reported.
Defending democracy over there also necessitated asserting it at home in the face of a Washington tradition known as the “Hastert Rule.” That policy, promulgated by disgraced former Speaker Dennis Hastert, forbids bringing legislation to the House floor if a majority of the ruling party doesn’t support it. It doesn’t matter whether a bipartisan majority of all the members is eager to vote for it, as they were for the aid to Ukraine and Israel.
Standing for what’s right
Speaker Mike Johnson, the unlikely hero of this moment, put aside the anti-democratic Hastert rule to allow a vote, despite Greene’s threat to kick him out of the Speaker’s chair, as was done to Kevin McCarthy, if he stood for what’s right instead of with the Republican Party’s far-out isolationists.
Greene’s motion is still pending. If she demands a vote, as the rules provide, the Democrats have made it clear that they’ll do whatever is necessary this time — as they should — to thwart the fringe’s parliamentary terrorism.
Johnson rose above perverted partisanship. So must the Democrats.
The Speaker had opposed more aid to Ukraine. But he did what people expect of their leaders at such times. He let himself be persuaded by the facts.
Ukraine’s situation was growing more dire by the day for lack of the U.S. materiel that had already been withheld too long. The situation recalled Churchill’s desperate plea in 1941 for 50 overaged, mothballed American destroyers: “Mr. President, with great respect, I must tell you that in the long history of the world, this is a thing to do now.”
Aid to Ukraine is another thing to do now. It is as much a test of democracy versus tyranny as World War II, which was worse and harder to win because of what the last isolationist (and pro-Nazi) “America First” movement had done to keep the U.S. out of it and delay aid to Britain. Today’s America Firsters are fronting for another foreign power.
How they all voted
A majority of the GOP’s razor-thin majority did cast 112 votes against the Ukraine aid, which passed 311 to 112 in the House with the yes votes of all Democrats present. Earlier, it took Democratic votes in the Rules Committee to even get the package to the floor, an unprecedented event.
At this critical moment in American and world history, Florida’s House delegation was split 14-14 on defending a friendly democratic nation from the dictator Vladimir Putin.
The Republicans in the delegation voted 8 to 6 against it. Florida’s GOP senators, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, also voted against the package, which should put an end to Rubio’s dreams of ever chairing the Foreign Relations Committee or becoming secretary of state in a Republican administration.
These 14 Florida House Republicans voted Putin’s way: Matt Gaetz, Cory Mills, Anna Paulina Luna, Brian Mast, Greg Steube, Aaron Bean, Gus Bilirakis, Kat Cammack, Byron Donalds, Scott Franklin, Laurel Lee, Bill Posey, Michael Waltz and Daniel Webster.
We expected better of some of them, particularly Lee and Webster. But both have primary opposition from the right. In the case of Lee, who’s from Tampa, Trump’s influence is overt. It’s noteworthy, however, that he has had little to say about Ukraine lately other than to complain vaguely that other allies should do more. Maybe he knows how poorly his affinity for Putin is playing outside MAGA world.
Every Florida Democrat but Maxwell Frost voted to aid both Ukraine and Israel. Frost voted against the Israeli package. So did Republicans Gaetz and Mills, consistent with their isolationism.
This is not to fault Frost. He is a humanitarian. In that regard, the bill truly was faulty for not reserving the Israeli assistance to defensive weapons or requiring more restraint in Gaza. The resulting paradox subsidizes Israel’s excessive warfare and appropriates money for innocent civilian victims.
The world and, we think, most Americans are looking to President Joe Biden to convince Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that our patience has run out.
The most important message, though, is the one that the Congress has sent to the former KGB agent who daydreams of restoring the Soviet empire. The world is not Putin’s oyster. America and our allies will still do what’s necessary to make the world safe for democracy, here or there. Bipartisanship is back, at least for now, and so is the arsenal of democracy.
The ֱ Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writer Martin Dyckman and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.
