The aid package that Speaker Mike Johnson is advancing roughly mirrors the $95 billion aid bill the Senate passed two months ago.Credit…Kenny Holston/The New York Times
Speaker said U.S. House will vote on foreign aid
Speaker Mike Johnson said that he planned to advance a long-stalled national security spending package this week to aid Israel, Ukraine and other U.S. allies, coupled with a bill to mollify conservatives opposed to backing Kyiv.
Johnson, a Republican, has agonized for weeks over whether and how to advance critical aid for Ukraine over stiff resistance from the far right faction of his conference. His announcement was the first concrete indication that he had chosen a path forward.
That path appears complex. Johnson said he would cobble together a legislative package that roughly mirrors the $95 billion aid bill the Senate passed two months ago, albeit in pieces. Lawmakers would vote separately on aid for Israel, Ukraine and allies like Taiwan, and then on another measure containing policies popular among Republicans.
It is not clear whether the convoluted strategy will succeed in the House, where Johnson has a tenuous hold on his caucus and a slim majority. Republicans could try to block the package from coming to the floor, and even if they let the legislation through, its success would hinge on a complicated mix of bipartisan coalitions to pass. And the plan could imperil Johnson’s speakership, which is teetering under a threat to oust him.
