Earlier this year, I traveled to Tokyo and Okinawa with a bipartisan delegation to meet with government officials, industry leaders and academics to discuss a number of issues including elections, trade, defense and the economy. Yet one specific issue was raised by our hosts in nearly every meeting — the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and whether the U.S. will abandon our allies when they need us most. 

The world is watching how America responds. In Europe, the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and elsewhere, our allies are uncertain of our reliability as leaders of the free world. At the same time, our adversaries and their enablers are watching just as closely to evaluate our resolve.  

As Ukraine fights for freedom, Israel fights against terrorism and Taiwan faces threats to their democracy and independence, we cannot abdicate our responsibility. 

PUTIN ISSUES CHILLING WARNING AGAINST SENDING WESTERN TROOPS TO DEFEND UKRAINE

If we fail to support our allies, the message will be clear: the United States no longer stands for democracy across the globe. Democracies that have free and fair elections, strive for equality, protect freedom of speech and a free press, and support freedom of religion.  

We risk emboldening our adversaries, starting with Eastern Europe. The most recent example is Alexei Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most ardent and vocal critic, who recently died while in the state’s custody. Regardless of the exact circumstances of his death, Putin is responsible. 

This is why Congress must act now.  

As Democrats fight to support our allies, Republican lawmakers have cynically used the issue of border security as cover for abandoning our duty to support our allies. In doing so, they put our national security at risk. This hypocrisy is driven by their fear of former President Donald Trump’s wrath. 

When President Joe Biden and Democrats brought forward legislation to support Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan last fall, Republicans demanded border security as a condition for aid. Taking them at their word, a bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote a bill to both fund our allies and address border security.  

Here is where it becomes bizarre. Before they even read the new bill, Republicans reject it out of hand. Why? Because it includes provisions to address the border, it would have bipartisan support in the House, and the last thing Trump wants is progress with this issue before the November election. 

It gets worse. The Senate then passes a bipartisan foreign aid bill that removes border provisions, and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., refuses to bring it to the House floor because it doesn’t address the border. All this flip-flopping is enough to make your head spin.  

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House Republicans are making it clear that they are not serious about governing and have no interest in pairing border security with assistance for our allies. Instead, they’d rather use the border as a political bludgeon. 

But our allies can’t wait – they’re depending on American leadership. We must send a message to the world that the U.S. stands for freedom and democracy and against tyranny and terror. It’s time for House Republicans to join us. Without further delay, we must work together to pass a critical aid package for our allies that includes humanitarian assistance for those affected by war. 

For too long, Republicans have dominated the conversation around immigration and the border, but it’s a new day. The New Democrat Coalition, a group of 100 center-left lawmakers dedicated to making tangible progress for our nation, has unveiled a 10-point framework for practical bipartisan immigration reform, and call on Republicans to join us at the negotiating table. 

We are dedicated to protecting our national security, both by restoring order at the border and by supporting our allies. But the ideal path forward is a bi-partisan one. At this critical moment, both sides of the aisle must come together so Americans can trust their government to deliver, and so the world can trust us to stand firm by our commitments. 

We call on Speaker Johnson and House Republican leadership to honor their oath of office and put the American people and our allies above politics. 

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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., slammed reports that Democrats are ginning up legislation in reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision Monday to keep former President Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot. 

"We conclude that States may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office. But States have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the Presidency," the Court wrote, adding that "the Constitution makes Congress, rather than the States, responsible for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates.

According to a report published in Axios Monday, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a former member of the Jan. 6 select committee, said he is already crafting federal legislation that would force Trump off the ballot. 

But a spokesperson for Speaker Johnson told Fox News Digital on Monday night that his Democrat colleagues should "get a grip." 

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"Democrats need to get a grip. In this country, the American people decide the next president—not the courts and not the Congress," the spokesperson said. 

According to the Axios report, Raskin referenced legislation he introduced in 2022 with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla. that would allow the Justice Department to sue to keep candidates off the ballot under the 14th Amendment.

"We are going to revise it in light of the Supreme Court's decision," Raskin told the outlet. He suggested that the bill would be paired with a resolution declaring Jan. 6 an "insurrection" and that those involved "engaged in insurrection." 

Trump is facing a number of federal charges related to the 2020 election, but he has not been charged with insurrection.  

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In the Supreme Court’s ruling Monday, the nine justices unanimously agreed that states don’t have Section 3 enforcement authority. But Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson said that the majority went too far when it said Congress has sole enforcement authority.

"The majority announces that a disqualification for insurrection can occur only when Congress enacts a particular kind of legislation pursuant to Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. In doing so, the majority shuts the door on other potential means of federal enforcement," the trio said. 

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"The Court today needed to resolve only a single question: whether an individual State may keep a Presidential candidate found to have engaged in insurrection off its ballot. The majority resolves much more than the case before us. Although federal enforcement of Section 3 is in no way at issue, the majority announces novel rules for how that enforcement must operate," the three wrote.

"It reaches out to decide Section 3 questions not before us, and to foreclose future efforts to disqualify a Presidential candidate under that provision," the three said. 

Rep. Raskin's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.