The House took a critical step on Friday toward approving a long-stalled package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and other American allies, as Democrats supplied the crucial votes to push the legislation past Republican opposition so that it could be considered on the floor.
The 316-94 vote cleared the way for the House to bring up the aid package, teeing up separate votes on Saturday on each of its parts. But passage of those measures, each of which enjoys bipartisan support from different coalitions, was not in doubt, making Friday’s action the key indicator that the legislation will prevail…
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The vote was an enormous victory in the long effort to fund Ukraine as it battles against Russian aggression, a major priority of President Biden that has met with bitter resistance from the right. It was a triumph against the forces of isolationism within the G.O.P. and a major moment of bipartisan consensus in a Congress that for the past year has been mostly defined by its dysfunction….
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Under the rule approved on Friday, Republicans will be allowed two chances to zero out or limit the funding for Ukraine, but those efforts are expected to fail….
“Neither side is ready to jump over the brink,” said Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran program at the Washington-based Middle East Institute research center. But he added a major caveat.
“Probably we’re going to go back to the proxy war, “ he said, but now it’s a proxy war with the risk of “that sudden eruption of state-to-state war. Which we didn’t have to worry about before.”…
On its face, Jordan’s high-risk decision to support Israel in repelling the hundreds of aerial vehicles that Iran fired at the Jewish State appears inconsistent with its vocal criticism of the Israeli invasion of Gaza. Amman’s long-time support of the Palestinians could have prompted it to remain passive in the face of the Iranian attack, as most Arab states did.
Indeed, with between 20 and 50 percent of Jordan’s population being of Palestinian origin, including Queen Rania — herself an outspoken opponent of the Israeli incursion into Gaza — prudence would have dictated that Jordan not play a role in the defense against the Iranian aerial onslaught….
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