The House is moving quickly through a series of votes in a rare Saturday session to approve $95 billion in foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies, as Democrats and Republicans battle for months over renewed U.S. support to repel a Russian invasion. United after a hard struggle.
With overwhelming support, the House approved the Ukraine portion of a $61 billion aid package, a stark display of U.S. support as lawmakers race to deliver a new round of U.S. support to the war-torn ally. support. Some lawmakers cheered, abandoning Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag.
A $26 billion package to aid Israel and provide humanitarian relief to Gaza citizens also passed easily. Each part of the aid package faces an up-or-down vote.
A national security bill that included provisions to force the sale of the popular platform TikTok was quickly approved, as was another bill supporting Indo-Pacific allies.
This unusual process allowed for a unique coalition to form around these bills, pushing them forward. The entire package will go before the Senate, where passage is all but guaranteed in the coming days. President Joe Biden has pledged to sign it immediately.
“The eyes of the world are upon us, and history will judge what we do here and now,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The weekend drama provided a striking glimpse into action in Congress after months of dysfunction and gridlock created by Republicans. The Republicans hold a majority but are deeply divided over foreign aid, particularly aid to Ukraine fighting a Russian invasion. Speaker Mike Johnson is risking his job and relying on Democratic support to secure approval of military and humanitarian packages and deliver aid to U.S. allies.
The morning began with a no-nonsense debate and an unusual sense of purpose, with Republican and Democratic leaders united in urging swift passage to ensure the United States supports its allies and continues its leadership on the world stage. The visiting galleries of the Forbidden City were packed with onlookers.
House passage would clear the biggest hurdle for Biden’s funding request, which he first made in October when Ukraine’s military supplies began to run low. The Republican-controlled House, skeptical of U.S. support for Ukraine, has struggled for months over what to do, first demanding that any aid be tied to policy changes on the U.S.-Mexico border, only to find an immediate bipartisan rejection The same proposal from the Senate.
The final stretch has been a painful lift for Johnson, testing his resolve and the support of Republicans, a small but growing number of whom are now publicly urging him to leave the speaker’s office. Congressional leaders, however, viewed the vote as a turning point in history — an urgent sacrifice as America’s allies suffer wars and threats from the European continent to the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific.
“The only thing that stops terrorists and tyrants is the strong idea of America that we will stand strong,” Johnson said this week. “That’s a very important message we want to send to the world.”
Opponents, especially far-right Republicans in Johnson’s majority, argue the U.S. should focus domestically on domestic border security and the nation’s rising debt burden, and they warn against spending more money, which largely goes to U.S. defense. manufacturer. Produce weapons for overseas use.
Still, world leaders from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have visited Congress in recent months, all but imploring lawmakers to approve the aid. Globally, the delay has led many to question the United States’ commitment to its allies.
One of Biden’s top foreign policy priorities is also at risk – halting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s advance in Europe. The president this week quickly endorsed Johnson’s plan after secret talks with him, paving the way for Democrats to provide rare support to clear procedural hurdles needed for a final vote.
“We have a responsibility, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans, to defend democracy wherever it is at risk,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the top House Democratic leader, said during the debate.
While aid to Ukraine is likely to win a bipartisan majority, a large number of progressive Democrats are expected to vote against the bill to aid Israel as they demand an end to the bombing of Gaza that has killed thousands of civilians.
Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has loomed large in the fight, speaking from afar through social media statements and direct calls to lawmakers, leaning the party toward an “America First” mantra. A more isolationist stance. “The brand of politics.
Ukraine’s defense once enjoyed strong bipartisan support in Congress, but as the war enters its third year, most Republicans oppose further aid. Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Trump ally, offered an amendment to zero out the funding, but it was rejected.
Trump’s opposition once led to the basic failure of bipartisan Senate proposals on border security. Trump also posted on social media last week questioning why European countries were not sending more money to Ukraine, though he spared Johnson the criticism and said Ukraine’s survival was important.
Still, the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus derided the bill as “America’s last” foreign war package and urged lawmakers to ignore Republican leadership and oppose it because it does not include border security measures.
Johnson’s grip on the speaker’s gavel has also become more tenuous in recent days, with three Republicans led by Greene supporting a “vacation motion” that could lead to a vote to oust the speaker. Egged on by the far right, she was joined by a growing number of lawmakers, including Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz. ), who urged Johnson to voluntarily step down.
The speaker’s office has been working to gain support for the bill as well as Latvian Republican Johnson.
The plan includes several Republican priorities that Democrats support or are at least willing to embrace. They include proposals to allow the United States to seize assets frozen by the Russian central bank to rebuild Ukraine; impose sanctions on Iran, Russia, China and criminal organizations that traffic in fentanyl; and legislation requiring the Chinese owners of popular video app TikTok to sell their shares within a year. , otherwise it will face a ban in the United States.
Still, the all-out push to pass these bills in Congress reflects not only politics but also Ukraine’s reality. Top National Security Council lawmakers briefed on classified briefings have become increasingly concerned about the situation in recent weeks. Russia is increasingly using satellite-guided glide bombs, which allow aircraft to drop bombs from a safe distance, to target Ukrainian forces struggling with troop and ammunition shortages.
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