Will Congress stand up for itself after Trump repeatedly trampled on its appropriations powers?
“Beyond the merits," as they like to say in Washington, two things stand out most for Congress when it comes to President Trump’s now famous July phone chat with Ukraine’s leader.
Unlike aid for Puerto Rico or Central America, Ukrainian assistance is something the GOP cares about as much as Democrats do. Second, unlike Trump’s use of emergency powers to build his border wall, the president’s goal in this case had less to do with some shared goal for his party — such as slowing immigration — and more his political self-interest.
Waiting any longer would have put the entire package in danger, since big portions of the appropriations were due to expire on Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. This provoked a debate as to what to do next and how best to avoid a repeat performance by the White House going into 2020. “I think they’ve got the message. If you are listening in the Ukraine on CPAN, you’re gonna get the money.”Providing no answer, Sen. Lindsey Graham assured his colleagues that the White House had learned its lesson and there would be no future delays in aid for Ukraine. “I think they’ve got the message. If you are listening in the Ukraine on C-SPAN, you’re gonna get the money,” Graham said.
“I do think this year was an exceptional year,” Lankford said. “It was entirely reasonable that the United States spend a couple of months getting to know him [Zelensky], his administration and to figure out if he was going to be pro-Russian or pro-West. Because no one knew which direction Zelensky was going to go.”“In the past several months, I think it took longer than it should have. I think we should have moved faster than we moved but there was due diligence in the process.
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