House Republicans on Friday helped Democrats overcome opposition from their own party and deliver crucial votes to pass a long-running foreign aid bill for Ukraine and Israel.
A crucial vote on the House floor was scheduled for Friday morning after the GOP was forced to rely on Democratic votes Thursday night to move the package out of the powerful rules committee over Republican objections — an unusual turn of events in a normally functioning committee. Strictly on party basis.
Democratic votes on Friday would be needed to pass a procedural measure known as a rule that would allow the aid package to be brought forward in what is expected to be another unusual vote in the face of Republican opposition.
Mr. Pushing Foreign Aid Package Through House The provision is important to Johnson's plan because it would allow separate votes on aid to Israel and aid to Ukraine, which are supported by different coalitions, but would tie them together without requiring lawmakers. To vote up or down on the entire bill.
That makes it an all-or-nothing vote lawmakers face on the foreign aid package, which in many ways is more important than votes on individual parts of the program. The move includes a package of sweeteners, including aid to Taiwan and a bill that would require TikTok to be sold by its Chinese owner or ban its use in the United States.
The provision would add nearly half a dozen votes to proposed changes to the aid package by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia and Rep. Kate Cammack, Republican of Florida, to zero out all funding for Ukraine. , which would eliminate all non-military funding to Kiev.
The move came just hours after Republicans took a key step Thursday night to join forces with Democrats to bring up the bill. The 9-to-3 bipartisan vote in the Rules Committee was part of a convoluted process the House is expected to go through in the next two days to approve the $95 billion aid package. It reflected the level of far-right anger over Speaker Mike Johnson's plan to pass the legislation over opposition from ultra-conservative Republicans.
In a fit of fury, three far-right Republicans on the panel, which controls what legislation reaches the House floor, refused to support a provision needed to bring up the foreign aid bill, putting it on a path to death in committee. But Democrats on the panel stepped up to save it in an unusual defiance.
The rules committee has traditionally been an arm of the speaker, and legislation is usually brought to the floor in a straight party-line vote. This time, all Democrats voted to advance the plan.
Three Republicans — Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Thomas Massey of Kentucky — tried to block the measure.
All three won their seats on the rules committee as part of a concession made last year by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who had to negotiate with ultraconservatives who opposed electing him to the top job and agreed to back him only after he offered. They are an important influence. They have refused to back a move to bring in a foreign aid package because it would not allow a vote on tougher border security measures, which they say should be prioritized to help Ukraine.
It was a significant act of rebellion, and Democrats bailed the speaker out and pushed the measure through committee.
Mr. Johnson has scheduled a House vote on the aid package for Saturday.
“I'd rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys,” he said in an interview with Newsmax Thursday night. “We don't want to have boots on the ground and prevent that by allowing them to keep Putin at bay.”
