On Friday’s broadcast of CNN International’s “State of the Race,” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) stated that Israel and Ukraine funding are important and border security needs to be tightened, but House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) is “catering to the extremists” by putting them together because it doesn’t include “a pathway to citizenship for kids like DACA kids, who came here with their parents through no fault of their own, and are essentially living as aliens in their own country.”
Moulton said, “Well, look, this is incredibly important, not just for our allies’ national security, but for our own. And we’ve been making this argument for months that, if Putin isn’t stopped in Ukraine, he’ll go into Europe. That means U.S. and NATO troops are on the line. We’ve got to stand up for our allies in the Middle East, including Israel and making sure there’s not a wider regional war. We’ve got to do something about immigration policy, because clearly, it’s failing across America. So, these are all things that are important. Ironically, John, they would actually make it through if they were passed individually. Usually, you combine things like this because you can’t get them separately. But we could get them separately, and we all recognize they’re important.”
He added, “I think the problem is the Speaker of the House, who’s catering to the extremists in his caucus, knows that each one of these would pass individually with Democratic support. And so, he’s not doing the right thing and just bringing them up for a vote. He’s trying to tie them all together, and get — and therefore extract more conservative demands. If you think about it, Ukraine funding is supported by the majority of Democrats, but a lot of Republicans would join too. The vast majority of Democrats and Republicans support funding for Israel. The border security issue, a border deal is not that hard to imagine. You need to tighten border security, but you have to do that hand in hand with providing a pathway to citizenship for kids like DACA kids, who came here with their parents through no fault of their own, and are essentially living as aliens in their own country. The majority of Americans, Republicans and Democrats alike, know that we need to give them a pathway to citizenship. But extremist Republicans are trying to hold this all hostage. That’s what’s going on here. And the question is whether Speaker Johnson is willing to vote with his extremist colleagues [or] do the right thing for the country and our allies.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
