US House to vote on foreign aid package for Ukraine and Israel on Saturday

For the first time in months, there is a real prospect in the U.S. Congress that aid for Ukraine and Israel can finally go ahead. The House of Representatives has presented four separate bills that will be voted on this weekend. The step is a personal project of House Speaker Mike Johnson, and it has pitted him against the most radical wing of his Republican Party, which categorically opposes more funds for Kyiv and leaves him at risk of losing his own position.

Johnson, who has not yet completed half a year in office, had been dragging his feet about when to bring the $95 billion foreign aid package — including $60 billion for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel — to a vote. The Senate greenlighted it in February, but the speaker argued that the House first needed to focus on domestic budget measures and on the reform of a section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that authorizes surveillance for counterespionage purposes without the need for judicial permission.

There was a political reality behind Johnson’s arguments: the majority that Republicans have in the House can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The party is deeply divided and, in a situation in which every vote counts, those of the minority radical wing acquire disproportionate importance. And this group is constantly raising the threat of a vote to remove the speaker if they do not like the bills he supports. These threats sometimes come to pass, as Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted last September, can attest to.

But Congress has already approved the renewal of FISA and the budget laws. And Iran’s drone and missile attack against Israel last weekend — added to Russian advances in Ukraine — imposed new pressure on the need to move forward with these items. On Wednesday, the heads of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Turner (R) and Jim Himes (D), warned that in a classified briefing it had been made clear to them that there is a “critical need” to approve this week new funds for Ukraine, which desperately needs to replenish military equipment and ammunition.

Johnson, who considers it absolutely impossible for wayward deputies to approve funds of almost $100 billion that contain the word “Ukraine,” has found a way out: to divide the package into four individual bills: one for Ukraine, another one for Israel, a third for Taiwan and Asian allies, and a fourth with a series of Republican proposals on national security, including tough border measures, sanctions against Iran, Russia and China and even a ban on the TikTok app if its parent company, the Chinese ByteDance, does not sell it.

These measures will provide funds to the national security interests of the United States and its allies in Israel, the Indo-Pacific and Ukraine, said Johnson to Republican lawmakers.

In the Ukraine bill, the funds would be structured as loans that could be forgiven in the future. Military assistance would be subject to stricter oversight. The proposal for Israel includes $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza and other conflict zones.

President Joe Biden, who had implored in every possible way the approval of assistance for Ukraine, has enthusiastically welcomed the step forward. “The House must pass the package this week and the Senate should quickly follow,” he said in a statement distributed by the White House. “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.”

But even though the vote is set for Saturday, it is not yet clear that it will go ahead. The radical Republican wing has already made it clear that it disapproves of the step. Since he cannot count on the votes of the Trumpist wing, Johnson will need to rely on the Democratic minority.

The threat made by one of the radical Republicans’ best-known representatives, Marjorie Taylor Greene — a great ally of Donald Trump — to present a motion to remove Johnson, is gaining strength. Another lawmaker, Thomas Massie, has indicated that he supports the measure. Several similarly-minded legislators have noted their discontent with the leader of the House.

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