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House Freedom Caucus Delivers Some Bad News for Speaker Johnson's Foreign Aid Bills

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  April 18, 2024 4:30 PM

On Thursday afternoon, the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) delivered some bad news to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and his series of foreign aid bills, releasing a statement standing in official opposition for a rules change. Under the proposed rule, those bills, with aid going to Ukraine, to Israel, and to Taiwan, as well as addressing national security, could be passed by a simple majority.

A post from the HFC X account sharing the statement focused on the southern border. "Don't just tweet about securing the border," it urged, telling House Republicans to "[a]ctually DO IT by killing" the rule for what they're terming Johnson's "#AmericaLast foreign wars package."

"The House Freedom Caucus will vote NO on rule for the ‘America Last’ foreign wars supplemental package with zero border security, and urge all House Republicans to do the same. To secure the border, we must kill the rule," the statement read.

Members are particularly incensed that not included in the bills is a focus on securing the southern border, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) chief among them. In addition to the several posts and reposts from both of his X accounts, as well as his media appearances on CNN and with "Fox Across America With Jimmy Failla," the congressman spoke at a press conference earlier on Thursday during which he insisted the speaker prioritize funding the border. 

He specifically spoke out against the rule as well and the $95 billion in foreign aid, which Roy acknowledged "some of which some of us would support in a normal context, with actual open rules, with actual debate, and when we've done our job to secure the border of the United States first!"

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As he also reminded, "if there's one Republicans stood up on, united, was that we would secure the border of the United States, and we've let every single funding bill get across the floor without securing the border of the United States, with a promise to use Ukraine as leverage with the administration to guarantee a secure border!"

"And here we are, completely running away from that promise," Roy also criticized his colleagues for, insisting "well not on our watch," as he made clear "we're going to throw everything we have at stopping this foolish capitulation by Republican leadership!" While Roy was gesturing for emphasis as he spoke, HFC Chair Bob Good (R-VA) stood beside him, nodding along.

Roy and other members, including Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), have also expressed concern for how $9 billion in the Israel aid bill is meant for "assistance" for Gaza, as Spencer addressed earlier. 

Good also has posted about his opposition to the foreign aid bills, with a focus on how the bills don't do enough for securing the border. 

A Monday article from The Hill that Good shared from his account also quotes the HFC as saying in an official statement that read "Under no circumstances will the House Freedom Caucus abide using the emergency situation in Israel as a bogus justification to ram through Ukraine aid with no offset and no security for our own wide-open borders." The HFC instead wants to focus on the $14.3 billion stand-alone Israel aid bill that the House passed in November, and which has failed multiple times in the Senate, including on Monday night. 

Vocal opposition has been clear even before the official statement on opposing the rule change came out on Thursday. On Wednesday, the HFC X account also criticized how "[t]he "AmericaLast foreign aid package has funding for Ukraine’s border police but not a single dollar or provision for our own border," also calling out "the Uniparty" in a quoted repost from Fox News' Bret Baier about CBP data for the first six months of 2024. 

Last August, Roy also sent a "Dear Colleague" letter signed by several other Texas Republicans indicating they wouldn't vote for government funding without border security. Last month, Roy and Good also sent a letter insisting that spending bills secure the border. 

As POLITICO's Olivia Beavers pointed out, 80 percent of HFC members have to sign on in order for something to be an official position.