Congressman LaHood explains aid package vote, calls motion to vacate ‘stupid’

PEORIA, Ill. (WCIA) — Congressman Darin LaHood (R-IL) was the only Illinois Republican to vote for all parts of the massive aid package Congress sent to Israel and Ukraine. He said the aid is a matter of national security.

LaHood, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said the aid package, which includes both $60 billion in aid to Ukraine and $26 billion to Israel, is necessary to stop a “axis of evil.”

He called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “thug” and “international criminal” and said Chinese President Xi Jinping wants the U.S. to lose in Ukraine.

“I don’t think we ought to have a blank check when it comes to money for Ukraine or any other country,” LaHood said. “But we don’t have US troops on the ground.”

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LaHood’s fellow Illinois Republicans in the House of Representatives, Mike Bost and Mary Miller, did not vote for Ukraine aid.

Meanwhile, Senators were forced to vote on the aid as a package vote, but Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said he would have questions before sending more money to Israel.

“With provisions… that guarantee they will stop the kind of warfare that has hurt so many people,” Durbin said.

The aid package was one of only a few major initiatives that has made it through a deadlocked Congress in months. Instead, some representatives have tried to remove the Speaker.

On Wednesday, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) tried to force a vote removing the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, only for it to be tabled. LaHood calls motions to remove Johnson a waste of time.

“I think it would be really dumb and stupid to go forth with the motion to vacate, and I will not support it,” LaHood said.

He wouldn’t say if he would vote to support Johnson past the upcoming elections in November.

“I don’t think he’s thinking, you know, three steps ahead on how he maintains his position as Speaker,” LaHood said. “He’s thinking about, you know, how do we continue to do the work that we need to do between now and November, and keep that majority.”

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LaHood also stopped short of saying the office of the president should have total immunity — a job perk that former President Donald Trump’s team of lawyers is currently fighting for in the Supreme Court.

“The President deserves some type of immunity,” he said. “There’s no doubt. Is it a blanket immunity? I don’t think that’s what the Founding Fathers initiated. But there has to be immunity because of the Office of President because of the nature of what the President is there.”

LaHood endorsed Trump leading up to the primary. He argues that the multiple trials that trump is involved in are not a stain on his or the office’s credibility, but a “diversion”.

“My point is, most people that I talked to think that support President Trump think that is wholly inappropriate and shouldn’t be happening in election year,” the Illinois congressman said.

LaHood also said the average voter does not focus on Trump’s court cases when choosing a candidate to vote for.

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