Rand Paul warns Trump would lose support if he backs bills

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has predicted that former President Donald Trump will lose supporters if he backs the foreign aid proposals being pushed in the House chamber.

“If Trump supports this monstrous, unpaid for foreign aid debt buster, he will lose the very supporters who comprise his vanguard. Mark my words,” Paul tweeted.

President Joe Biden has backed the proposals, saying in a statement, “I strongly support this package to get critical support to Israel and Ukraine, provide desperately needed humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, and bolster security and stability in the Indo-Pacific.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson has described the bills as a “great product” that is “much better” than the supplemental the Senate passed earlier this year.

But there is tension within the Republican ranks.

Regarding the Ukraine-related bill being pushed alongside the other measures, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia proposed an amendment that would declare that any lawmaker who votes for the measure “shall be required to conscript in the Ukrainian military.”

Greene, who filed a motion to vacate targeting Johnson last month, tweeted, “I mean if you want to fund the war, why don’t you go fight in it. Show your support for Ukraine.”

Another one of the amendments the congresswoman proposed reads, “The total amount of appropriations made available by this Act is hereby allocated to the Attorney General to initiate removal proceedings against aliens without lawful status under the immigration laws (as such term is defined in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act).”