Flag fracas: Republicans ‘infuriated’ by show of support for Ukraine

WASHINGTON — Republicans were split roughly down the middle on Saturday’s vote to provide Ukraine with $60.8 billion in aid, but in the aftermath, Speaker Mike Johnson tried to project unity on at least one aspect of the ordeal.

“I just want to say simply what I think most people around the country understand and agree,” Johnson said after the vote. “We should only wave one flag on the House floor. And I think we know which flag that is.”

A tide of blue and yellow washed over the House during the vote, as dozens of Democrats held up mini Ukrainian flags. Others tucked them in their breast pockets, while New Jersey Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. draped a larger version over his shoulders like a cape.

It was a striking scene, and one that drew immediate rebukes from Republicans. Banging the gavel repeatedly as he called for order, presiding Rep. Marc Molinaro of New York reminded his colleagues to “observe proper decorum,” adding that “flag-waving on the floor is not appropriate.” Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna was even blunter: “Put those damn flags away.”

—CQ-Roll Call

NYPD blames faculty, ‘professional agitators’ in NYU Gaza protest arrests

NEW YORK — NYPD brass Tuesday blamed faculty and “professional agitators” at New York University for heated standoffs with police, after university officials sent cops to clear a pro-Palestinian encampment and arrest 120 protesters for trespassing, including students and staff.

The unrest at NYU over the war between Israel and Hamas was latest in a string of mass arrests at colleges in the tri-state area that started last week at Columbia University and spread to Yale University in New Haven.

“The faculty were — from what I personally observed, and spoke to lieutenants and captains out there — the most aggressive towards the police,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry said on Fox 5’s Good Morning America. “They would not move, they would not let go.”

About 50 students protesting the war set up a tent demonstration early Monday morning on NYU’s Gould Plaza on W. Fourth St., outside the business school. An NYU spokesman said the school asked the NYPD to step in later in the day after the crowd became disorderly amid intimidating chants and antisemitic incidents.

—New York Daily News

DeSantis blames congressional Republicans for failure on US southern border

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Naples on Tuesday blamed congressional Republicans for failing to get a bill passed on the U.S. southern border, saying they’d lost all their leverage with President Joe Biden.

DeSantis was referring to how the U.S. House on Saturday failed to pass H.R. 3602 while separately passing $95 billion in foreign aid via three separate bills for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The House also passed a fourth bill that banned TikTok.

House Democrats joined Republicans in voting for the measures that passed, enabling them to overcome far-right opposition. The aid funding package is now in the U.S. Senate where it is expected to pass.

“Republicans were sent there and the number one issue that our voters wanted them to address is the southern border and the massive influx of foreigners by the millions coming into this country, and we don’t know who these people are,” DeSantis told reporters. “And they basically just surrendered on the border. They now have no leverage to do anything on the border.”

—Miami Herald

US commander warns China is fast becoming more aggressive in region

China is rapidly becoming more aggressive in its rhetoric and actions across Asia, the outgoing head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said, as Beijing turned up the heat on Washington just before Secretary of State Tony Blinken heads to the country for a high-stakes visit.

“We all need to understand that it’s moving very fast,” Admiral John Aquilino told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday. “The buildup of military power despite a bad economy, the increased narrative of all things inside the 10-dash line are Chinese sovereign territory, then the actions that are going toward enforcement.”

His comments came as the U.S. seeks to build up a network of relationships with partners across the region to counter China — a move that has been condemned by Beijing. At the same time, Blinken is set to use his first trip to China since mid-2023 to convey U.S. concerns about Chinese companies providing support to Russia’s war machine and seek to avoid derailing Washington’s ties with Beijing.

In a Foreign Ministry statement released Tuesday, China launched its harshest attack to date on U.S. complaints about industrial overcapacity, signaling Blinken may be in for some difficult conversations during his visit that runs from Wednesday to Friday.

—Bloomberg News