Democrats took the unusual step on Thursday and helped 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 nine hours of recess, the House Rules Committee reconvened late Thursday night and referred Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson's foreign aid bills for a 9-3 vote, thanks to votes from all four Democrats who sit on the committee: Ranking Member Jim McGovern. Representative from Massachusetts, Representative Mary Gay Scanlon from Pennsylvania, Representative from Colorado Joe Neguse, and Representative from New Mexico, Teresa Leger Fernandez.
The committee's conservative Republican stalwarts — Reps. Tom Massie of Kentucky, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, and Chip Roy of Texas — voted against the rule, because border security was not tied to foreign aid. However, the Speaker of Parliament will put what he described as an “aggressive” border bill to a vote on Friday morning. It failed to pass out of the Rules Committee, but the House will consider it under suspension of the rule, meaning it would require two-thirds support to pass.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on final approval of the foreign aid package at the end of this week.
The three foreign aid bills will provide $26.4 billion in support Israel$60.8 billion in support Ukraine And $8.1 billion to confront China in the Indo-Pacific region, including billions of dollars Taiwan. The Israeli bill also includes more than $9.1 billion for humanitarian needs, which Democrats said are needed to support them.
The fourth bill aims to address other foreign policy priorities of the Republican Party. In particular, it would allow the sale of frozen assets to Russian oligarchs and possibly 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 called on the House to pass it this week and the Senate to quickly follow suit. The two councils are scheduled to be in recess next week.
Johnson, Republican from Louisiana, Announce the proposal Monday amid mounting pressure from members in both parties to hold a vote on the bipartisan Senate package that includes support for U.S. allies. the A supplementary financing package worth $95 billion The bill, which passed the Senate in February, has been stagnant for months in the House as Johnson debated the way forward.
The foreign aid has deeply divided House Republicans, with some on the far right threatening to oust Johnson as speaker over additional funding for Ukraine, which they oppose.
Johnson defended his decision on Wednesday, saying that providing Ukraine with lethal aid was “extremely important.”
“If I act out of fear over a proposed evacuation, I will never be able to do my job,” Johnson told reporters.
“Look, history is judging us for what we do,” he said, adding: “This is a critical time now on the world stage. I can let you know that I can make a selfish decision and do something different.” But I'm doing what I think is the right thing here.”
Republican Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado predicted, “This may be the beginning of the end for the speaker.”
Reporting was contributed by Ellis Kim, Nicole Killion, Laura Garrison and Christine Brown.