Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. On Thursday, the House Rules Committee advanced his four separate foreign aid bills. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI. |
License PhotoApril 19 (UPI) — The Republican-majority House Rules Committee advanced long-stalled bills to aid the defenses of Ukraine and other allies late Thursday with the support of Democrats needed to overcome objections by three GOP hardliners.
The panel voted 9 to 3 to adopt a rule to move three supplemental appropriation bills for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific to the full House along with a fourth bill that includes an assortment of national security measures.
Together, the bills are worth about $95 billion, with more than $60 billion earmarked for Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel and $8 billion for Taiwan and other allies in the Indo-Pacific.
All democrats voted in favor of the rule.
The three Republicans of Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Chip Roy of Texas and Ralph Norman of South Carolina were the only lawmakers to vote against it over opposition to the absence of funding for the border in the four bills.
“Speaker Johnson is plowing forward with $100 billion in security assistance for other countries while breaking his promise to Americans that our border would come first,” Massie said Wednesday on X.
The conservative Freedom House Caucus, which Massie, Roy and Norman are members of, had called on Republicans ahead of the vote Thursday to oppose the bills.
“The House Freedom Caucus will vote NO on rule for the ‘America Last’ foreign wars supplemental package with zero border security, and urge all House Republicans to do the same,” it said. “To secure the border, we must kill the rule.”
The vote was held as pressure was mounting on House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring to the floor legislation to fund the militaries of Ukraine and Israel following last weekend’s attack by Iran on Israel and as Kyiv’s weaponry runs out.
President Joe Biden initially called on Congress for emergency funding for Ukraine in August, but was stonewalled by Republicans seeking to negotiate more border security funding and stricter immigration policies from the White House.
After Hamas launched its bloody surprise attack on Israel in October, the bill was revised to include funding for the U.S. ally. In February, the Democrat-led Senate passed the $95 billion supplemental aid bill, which then sat on Johnson’s desk for months as some far-right Republicans have threatened to oust him if he aids Democrats in continuing to fund Ukraine.
To their anger, Johnson earlier this week announced that instead of bringing the Senate-passed bill to the floor he unveiled four separate bills.
“I’m doing here what I believe to be the right thing. I think providing aid to Ukraine right now is really important, I really do,” Johnson said Wednesday in a press conference.
“To put it bluntly, I would rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys.”
The White House has for months tried to get Congress to act on supplying funding to Ukraine, and has tried to assuage worries in Kyiv that assistance will soon be on its way as its weapons supplies deplete.
In a statement Wednesday, Biden said he “strongly” supports the package of bills.
“The House must pass the package this week and the Senate should quickly follow,” he said in a statement. “I will sign this into law immediately to send a message to the world: We stand with our friends, and we won’t let Iran or Russia succeed.”
