Speaker Mike Johnson will force separate votes on Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan foreign aid bills with another binding TikTok divestment and humanitarian aid
Speaker Mike Johnson will lead House Republicans in introducing three separate bills this week to send billions to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, DailyMail.com has confirmed.
A fourth bill will reportedly include several measures, such as requiring TikTok to divest from its Chinese-owned parent company, an attempt to obtain seized Russian assets, a lend-lease program for military aid to Ukraine, and also loans for humanitarian aid.
All four bills would be lumped together under the same “rule” to bring them to the House floor for final passage this week.
Democrats and Republicans have remained deadlocked as the White House has made clear that President Joe Biden does not support an aid package just for Israel.
Instead, he is urging House Republicans to pass the Senate-passed $95 billion package of combined money for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific — a package hardliners have balked at.
Johnson has so far been tight-lipped about how he will address foreign aid, but called an emergency all-conference meeting on Monday to outline a way forward after Iran’s attack over the weekend.
The two parties have remained at an impasse as the White House has made clear that President Joe Biden does not support an aid package just for Israel
He laid out plans for “Appliance Week,” in which the House GOP would vote on notification bills to push back Biden’s kitchen appliance rules so the House could work on legislation targeting Iran with sanctions and foreign aid to Israel.
Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., one of the more conservative members said he supports the speaker’s efforts and that they are ‘trying to get it done before we go home.’
Congress is scheduled to work from their home districts next week.
Johnson put the $17 billion Israel-only aid package on the House floor in February, but it failed to get the two-thirds majority it needed to be suspended.
“We will try again this week and the details of that package are being put together right now,” he said. ‘We are looking at the possibilities and all these additional issues.’
The House passed a $14 billion aid package for Israel in October, but the deal was offset by cuts in IRS funding that led to its death in the Democrat-led Senate.
Conservative hardliners have warned Johnson against tying any Ukraine funding to an Israeli aid bill.
“Under no circumstances will the House Freedom Caucus stand by using the emergency in Israel as a false justification to hit aid to Ukraine without compensation and without security for our own wide-open borders,” the conservative hardliner Freedom Caucus said in a statement. Monday.
Meanwhile, a proposal to leave Johnson has loomed over Johnson’s head, since Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene launched an effort to unseat him last month. The Georgia Republican is a staunch opponent of Ukraine aid and has already threatened to try to kill Johnson if he brings it to the floor.
But after Johnson met with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Friday and said he stands by him, Greene appeared to back off the threat.
She told DailyMail.com: ‘I’m one of President Trump’s biggest fighters here in Washington, and everybody knows that’s grateful to the president, and I want him to focus on beating these ridiculous lawsuits in New York and win his election.’
Trump was in New York City on Monday for the first day of his criminal trial over an alleged scheme to pay porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
With the Republicans’ razor-thin majority, Johnson can only afford to lose three Republicans and keep his job unless Democrats vote to save him.
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has suggested they would if Johnson does what Democrats want: approves the $95 billion supplement.
Israel has deemed Iran’s 350 missile strikes a ‘declaration of war’, although it said 99 percent of the missiles were intercepted.
The attack was in response to Israel’s drone strike in Syria that killed 12 Iranians, including two top generals.
The bill passed by the Senate included both humanitarian and military aid: $61 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel in its war against Hamas and $4.83 billion to support partners in the Indo-Pacific.
Johnson previously suggested he would not put the Senate bill on the House floor, adding that military-only aid is “more palatable” to members.
‘No American taxpayer should be tasked with supporting the pension system of the nation of Ukraine.’
Any foreign aid proposal would likely have to come to the House floor under suspension of the rules, meaning it would require a two-thirds majority to pass.
The bill would lose a number of Democrats would oppose further aid to Israel without humanitarian conditions. It would lose a number of Republicans who directly oppose Ukraine aid — potentially jeopardizing its chances of passing.