Democrats took an unusual step Thursday and helped Republican leaders advance legislation to provide billions in stalled security funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, steering the measures closer toward passage this weekend.
Late Friday morning, the full House voted on the the debate rules, advancing it for final passage Saturday with broad bipartisan support, 316 to 94. Democrats ultimately delivered more votes for the bill than Republicans — 165 Democrats voted in favor, while 39 opposed it, and 151 Republicans voted in favor, and 55 opposed.
The House will vote on bill passage Saturday afternoon.
After about nine hours of recess, the House Rules Committee reconvened late Thursday night and moved GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson’s foreign aid bills on a 9-3 vote, thanks to the votes of all four Democrats who sit on the committee: Ranking Member Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse and New Mexico Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández.
The conservative Republican hardliners on the committee — Reps. Tom Massie of Kentucky, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Chip Roy of Texas — all voted against the rule, because border security was not being paired with foreign aid. However, the speaker is putting what he said is an “aggressive” border bill to a vote Friday morning. It failed to pass out of the Rules Committee, but the House will consider it under a suspension of the rule, which means it will require two-thirds support to pass.
The three foreign aid bills would provide $26.4 billion to support Israel, $60.8 billion to bolster Ukraine and $8.1 billion to counter China in the Indo-Pacific, including billions for Taiwan. The Israel measure also includes more than $9.1 billion to address Palestinian humanitarian needs, which Democrats said was necessary for their support.
A fourth bill is geared toward addressing other GOP foreign policy priorities. In particular, it would allow the sale of frozen assets of Russian oligarchs to help fund future aid to Ukraine, potentially force the sale of TikTok and authorize stricter sanctions on Russia, China and Iran.
President Biden said he would sign the package into law and called on the House to pass it this week and the Senate to quickly follow. Both chambers are scheduled to be in recess next week.
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, announced the proposal on Monday amid mounting pressure from members in both parties to hold a vote on a bipartisan Senate package that includes support for the U.S. allies. The $95 billion supplemental funding package that passed the Senate in February has stagnated for months in the House as Johnson has debated a path forward.
Foreign aid has sown deep divisions among House Republicans — some on the far right have threatened to oust Johnson from the speakership over additional funding to Ukraine, which they oppose.
Johnson defended his decision Wednesday and said providing Ukraine with lethal aid was “critically important.”
“If I operated out of fear over a motion to vacate, I would never be able to do my job,” Johnson told reporters.
…
This article was originally published by a www.cbsnews.com . Read the Original article here. .