By: The Editorial Board – wsj.com – April 21, 2023

The House of Representatives on Saturday passed separate bills to support Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. A fourth bill that cleared the House would seize frozen Russian sovereign assets and force a sale of the Chinese-controlled social media app TikTok, among other priorities.

All four bills cleared the House with more than 300 votes, albeit with shifting bipartisan coalitions. Support for partners in the Indo-Pacific attracted the highest tally at 385-34, a testament to the bipartisan consensus on the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party. Thirty-seven Democrats and 21 Republicans opposed weapons for Israel, and 112 Republicans voted against the Ukraine bill.

At the core of these bills is U.S. self-defense. Some $23 billion of the roughly $60 billion Ukraine bill will replenish U.S. weapons stocks with better equipment than what America has given to Kyiv. Another $11 billion is marked for U.S. troops in Europe for ship and aircraft maintenance and more.

The Pacific bill includes $3.3 billion to help the U.S. pick up the pace on producing attack submarines. That is crucial to deterring Xi Jinping and selling hulls to the Australians. The bills will expand U.S. weapons production—from 155mm artillery shells to Patriot missiles.

Credit is due House Speaker Mike Johnson, who in recent days explained the stakes in Ukraine with more clarity than President Biden has mustered. He had to defy some on the right who revealed their isolationism by opposing all four bills (see nearby). He needed Democratic votes to overcome these opponents and bring the bills to the House floor, and Mr. Johnson was right to let the House work its will.

The 101 Republicans who voted to support Ukraine are giving a backbone to a weak Commander in Chief. The House bill requires the Administration to produce a document detailing its strategy in Ukraine within 45 days. Readers who have followed the war know the answer: The Biden Administration wants Ukraine to survive but not to defeat Vladimir Putin. Whatever the Administration produces will be instructive, and an opportunity for Republicans to press the case that Mr. Biden’s ambivalence has failed.

The House bill also tries to compel the Biden Administration to give the Ukrainians long-range fires known as the Army tactical missile system, which can strike Russian supply and logistics lines. Mr. Biden denied Ukraine these weapons for more than a year, fretting over Mr. Putin’s reaction, and lately has offered only a token few. The GOP can connect the dots for voters between Mr. Biden’s weakness and the frozen front lines.

The substance of the bills has been drowned out by the drama over whether Mr. Johnson will be deposed as Speaker. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wields an assassin’s veto in the GOP’s thin majority. Yet she represents only a rump minority: She was given the opportunity to offer an amendment stripping out money for Ukraine, and it commanded only 71 ayes.

Her game is power, not policy, and she may try to embarrass Mr. Johnson into relying on Democrats to save him in a motion to vacate. Yet those who say Mr. Johnson betrayed the GOP are peddling a false history.

Mr. Johnson from his first days as Speaker revealed himself as a conservative in the mold of Ronald Reagan. “A strong America is good for the entire world,” Mr. Johnson said in October 2023 after winning the post, and soon after told the press he didn’t want Mr. Putin to prevail in Ukraine. He worked to pass border security measures both he and the conference wanted, holding out long after it became clear nothing could pass the House.

“We have to stand for freedom and we have to be the beacon of light,” Mr. Johnson told reporters last week. “The only thing that has kept terrorists and tyrants at bay is the perception of a strong America—that we would stand strong. And we will.” Saturday’s votes are a show of will from the United States that will reverberate around the world.

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Source: The House Votes for a ‘Strong America’ – WSJ