Democrats took an unusual step Thursday, helping Republican leaders advance legislation to provide billions in stalled security funding to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, moving the measures closer to passage this weekend.
After about a nine-hour recess, the House Rules Committee reconvened late Thursday night and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson moved the foreign aid bills 9-3, thanks to the votes of all four Democrats on the committee: Ranking Member Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania Representative Mary Gay Scanlon, Colorado Representative Joe Neguse and New Mexico Representative Teresa Leger Fernández.
The conservative Republican hardliners on the committee — Reps. Tom Massie of Kentucky, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Chip Roy of Texas — all voted against the rule because border security was not accompanied by foreign aid. However, the speaker will vote on a so-called “aggressive” border bill on Friday morning. It failed to pass the Rules Committee, but the House will consider it a suspension of the rule, meaning it would need two-thirds support to pass.
The House is expected to vote on final approval of the foreign aid package this weekend.
The three foreign aid bills would provide $26.4 billion to support Israel, $60.8 billion to strengthen Ukraine and $8.1 billion to counter China in the Indo-Pacific, including billions for Taiwan. The Israeli bill also includes more than $9.1 billion to address humanitarian needs that Democrats said were necessary for their support.
A fourth bill aims to address other GOP foreign policy priorities. In particular, it would allow the sale of frozen assets of Russian oligarchs and potentially force the sale of TikTok and allow for tougher sanctions on Russia, China and Iran.
President Biden said he would sign the package into law and has called on the House to pass it this week and the Senate to quickly follow suit. Both Houses will go into recess next week.
Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, announced the proposal Monday under mounting pressure from members of both parties to vote on a bipartisan Senate package that includes aid for U.S. allies. The Additional $95 billion financing package passed by the Senate in February has been stalling in the House of Representatives for months as Johnson has debated a path forward.
Foreign aid has sown deep divisions among Republicans in the House of Representatives — some on the far right have threatened to remove Johnson from the presidency over additional funding to Ukraine, which they oppose.
Johnson defended his decision on Wednesday, saying providing lethal aid to Ukraine was “critically important”.
“If I operated out of fear of a motion to leave, I would never be able to do my job,” Johnson told reporters.
“Look, history judges us by what we do,” he said, adding: “This is a critical time right now, a critical time on the world stage. I could let you know that I can make a selfish decision and do something that is different. But I’m doing what I think is right here.”
Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado predicted that “this could be the beginning of the end for the speaker.”
Ellis Kim, Nikole Killion, Laura Garrison and Kristin Brown contributed reporting.
