House takes key step forward on foreign aid bills with Democratic support, setting up final vote Saturday

CNN

By Annie Grayer and Haley Talbot, CNN

The House voted Friday in a bipartisan manner to advance a key foreign aid package, a significant step in sending aid to Ukraine and Israel and setting up a final vote as soon as Saturday.

In an extraordinary move, more Democrats (165) supported the measure than Republicans (151). The Democratic votes were necessary to overcome opposition from Speaker Mike Johnson’s right flank, who will likely only increase their calls to oust him.

The fight over the bills – and the potential for right-wing members of the GOP to attempt to oust Johnson over it – adds up to the most intense pressure that the speaker has faced over his future in his short time in the role. Rep. Thomas Massie on Tuesday said he would co-sponsor Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to vacate, which would boot Johnson from the speakership if it passed, leading the speaker to defiantly tell reporters that he would not be resigning.

Greene left the US Capitol on Friday following the vote without moving to oust Johnson.

The GOP-led House Rules Committee late Thursday night also used Democratic support to advance the bills.

The move is likely to further inflame conservatives who are against additional aid to Ukraine and have threatened Johnson’s job over the issue.

The committee activity capped off another contentious day on Capitol Hill as the renewed push to send foreign aid to Ukraine has divided House Republicans. The right wing of the GOP conference has come out against the plan and vented their anger over a separate effort to change House rules regarding the process for removing the speaker – a rule change Johnson said Thursday he would not make.

Three Republicans – Massie, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Chip Roy of Texas – voted against the foreign aid legislation in committee Thursday night, but all Democrats on the panel voted for it.

Three bills in the foreign aid package would provide aid for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific region, with the latter intended to help deter Chinese aggression in the area. A fourth bill includes other House GOP priorities, including sanctions on Iran, the seizure of frozen Russian sovereign assets and a measure that could lead to a nationwide ban of TikTok.

The three House aid bills add up to about $95 billion – the same amount the Senate bill included – with an adjustment that $10 billion in Ukraine economic assistance is in the form of a repayable loan, CNN has reported.

The three assistance bills are similar to the foreign aid legislation that passed the Senate in February. The fourth House bill was not part of the Senate package.

Johnson, appearing on Newsmax, suggested the timing for a vote on the package would be “early Saturday.” He did not elaborate, and his office told CNN exact timing is still being worked out.

According to the rule, if the bills pass the House, they will be combined into one amendment before being sent to the Senate.

Earlier Thursday, the House Freedom Caucus took an official stance urging House Republicans to oppose the procedural vote, arguing “to secure the border we must kill the rule.”

“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,” the group said in a statement posted on X.

With Republicans controlling the House only by a razor-thin margin, Johnson will have to rely on a significant number of Democrats to get the bill through procedural hurdles, especially with a growing number of hardliners upset about border security provisions.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Haley Talbot, Katie Lobosco, Tami Luhby and Brian Fung contributed to this report.

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