Zac Schultz:
Republicans and Democrats in Congress managed to come together this week to pass a $95 billion foreign aid package. The bill was stalled for months in the House until Speaker Mike Johnson agreed to break the funding into four separate bills and let members vote up or down on each measure and then repackage them and send one bill over to the Senate. The measure includes $60 billion to Ukraine for their war against Russia, $26 billion to Israel for defense, $8 billion for Taiwan and a fourth bill that gives the social media company, TikTok, nine months to divest from its Chinese parent company. President Biden signed the bill into law on Wednesday. Joining us now to talk about this bill is Republican Congressman Bryan Steil, who joins us now. Thank you for your time today.

Bryan Steil:
Thanks for having me on.

Zac Schultz:
You voted “yes” on aid to Taiwan and Israel and for breaking up TikTok, but you voted “no” on aid to Ukraine. Can you walk us through your decision specifically regarding Ukraine and Israel?

Bryan Steil:
From a global perspective right now, we’re in one of the more dangerous positions that we’ve been in in generations. Tyrants are tempted when they sense weakness and dysfunction. We’ve seen that from a foreign policy perspective from the United States. I think it’s important that we make sure we’re standing with our democratic allies. So as we look at the importance of making sure we’re funding Israel so that they can defend themselves from the terrorist attack from Hamas, but also from other Iranian proxies, I think that bill was pretty straightforward. Making sure that we’re providing Taiwan and in particular the U.S. Naval Fleet the resources they need to be able to confront and prevent China from moving in against Taiwan. I think that’s a positive move. The broader national security bill banning TikTok or forcing its sale as well as my bill that addressed some of the terrorism financing that we continue to see from Iran, I think was an essential piece to pass. As it relates to the Ukrainian funding, I think it is appropriate to send lethal weapons to Ukraine to allow the Ukrainians to be able to defend themselves. My concern with that bill was the significant amount of humanitarian aid funding that wasn’t paid for. When we see this volume of funding, I think it’s really important that we go in and we are very careful in the use of taxpayer dollars as it relates to foreign aid. For example, there’s $300 million in the bill to address narcotics trafficking, an important topic, but I think that we should have been looking at ways to be able to pay for that piece of the puzzle. Overall, the entire package was signed into law and I think it’s important that we continue to stand with our democratic allies against tyrants who are on the move across the globe.

Zac Schultz:
Do you have any concerns about how Israel is conducting their military operations in Gaza?

Bryan Steil:
I mostly have concerns that the Hamas continues to hold hostages, not only Israeli hostages, but U.S. citizens hostages. This entire conflict could be ended tomorrow if Hamas surrenders and releases the hostages. And so I think it’s important that Israel has a right to defend itself. Israel is continuing to conduct operations against the terrorists. They continue to hold both Israeli as well as U.S. hostages.

Zac Schultz:
Looking ahead to the fall, Democrat Peter Barca recently announced he’s running against you in the 1st Congressional. What do you think are the main dynamics that will shape the election this fall?

Bryan Steil:
I think there’s going to be a conversation on the issues and the policy differences between me and my opponents are pretty significant. I know there’s an ongoing Democratic primary. We’ll see who the voters ultimately select. But if we look at Peter Barca’s 40-year history, you see a series of votes I think are out of line with voters in the state of Wisconsin. When he was the Democratic minority leader in the statehouse in Madison, he voted to protect sanctuary cities. I think in contrast, we should be working to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. The implications of the unsecured border are very significant in the state of Wisconsin. It’s not only fentanyl that’s flowing in. I can’t tell you how many moms and dads that I’ve talked to that have lost a loved one to fentanyl, but it’s also the challenges being faced in communities like Whitewater, city of 15,000, where the chief of police has recognized there’s roughly a thousand migrants that have moved in in the past two years from Nicaragua and Venezuela. So there’s going to be a stark policy contrast between me and my opponent. I think that’s actually a healthy conversation to have with folks across the country and across Wisconsin over the course of the next 200 days.

Zac Schultz:
You mentioned the border and drugs. Originally this foreign aid package included money for border security, but it was Donald Trump who told Republicans not to pass it, not to give Joe Biden a win, so to speak. Do you have any prospects for that changing and what is the impact of Trump on all of these issues in the election?

Bryan Steil:
I pretty strongly disagree with your framing of that topic. I would note that House Republicans, we passed a comprehensive border security package. Unfortunately, Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, has refused to bring our bill to the floor. He’s also refused to bring the bill to the floor that you’re referencing. So I don’t think it’s fair to say that the reason that it’s not there is because of conservatives. I would actually note Democratic leadership in the Senate refuses to bring any security bill to the floor. They should bring the conservative-passed, border security bill, passed in the House now over six months ago to a vote. If they have amendments or want to seek changes to it, I would love to see the conversation. But the fact that Democratic leadership in the Senate refuses to act and President Biden, who has the authority today refuses to act is incredibly concerning. Today, President Biden could end catch-and-release. He could end the abuse of the parole system. He could reinstate stay in Mexico. He could restart border wall construction immediately. He refuses to do that. It’s the lack of action from the president, the lack of action from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that’s causing us a lot of problems that we have on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Zac Schultz:
So looking ahead to the summer, we have the RNC and Donald Trump in Wisconsin. What impact will that have for the state and for the fall?

Bryan Steil:
One, there’s no better place to be than in the state of Wisconsin in July. I think it’s a huge opportunity to show off our state and to show off the city of Milwaukee to the entire country. I also think it’s a real opportunity for us to talk about the biggest issues facing American families. So many people can’t afford the things that they need brought to us by massive volumes of inflation directly related to massive reckless spending in the first two years of the Democratic one-party control, the Biden administration. The policies that we need to see moving forward are getting price and inflation under control. We can do that by addressing the reckless spending and, two, the importance of securing the U.S.-Mexico border. If we’re talking about the policy issues in front of us this summer and through this election, that’s good for the American people, that’s good for the state of Wisconsin and I look forward to that conversation.

Zac Schultz:
All right. Congressman, thanks for your time today.

Bryan Steil:
Thank you.