The House of Representatives has approved sending $60 billion to Ukraine for its defense against Russia’s invasion, an issue that has roiled Speaker Mike Johnson’s already perilously slim majority.
More Democrats voted in favor of the aid bill than Republicans.
Many House Democrats waved small Ukrainian flags on the floor during the aid vote, until the speaker told them they were out of decorum. The House erupted in cheers as the gavel came down.
House lawmakers are in session on a rare Saturday working to pass Johnson’s foreign aid plan, which also includes aid bills for Israel and the Indo-Pacific, as well as a bill with other national security measures.
The close margins within the GOP alone show what a divisive topic Ukraine funding has become for the right.
DEMS SAVE JOHNSON’S $95B FOREIGN AID PLAN FROM GOP REBEL BLOCKADE
Speaker Johnson backed the bill sending more money to Ukraine for it’s defensive war against Russia’s invasion over two years ago (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images | Photo by Viktor Kovalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
A growing number of fiscal conservatives have been skeptical about the U.S.’s continued financial involvement with Ukraine, while others have raised questions about corruption within Kyiv’s government.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s proposal to strip all funding related to Ukraine from the Ukraine funding bill predictably failed Saturday in a 71 to 351 vote.
More traditional Republicans and national security hawks warn that Ukraine’s victory is critical to preventing a wider conflict between NATO and Russia, warning that its President Vladimir Putin is rapidly forming a second “axis of evil” with Iran and China.
Johnson, who like his conservative colleagues was skeptical of Ukraine aid before becoming speaker, gave a sober warning earlier this week. “I really do believe the intel and the briefings that we’ve gotten that I believe [Chinese President Xi Jinpimg] and Vladimir Putin and Iran really are an axis of evil. And I think they’re in coordination on this. I think that Vladimir Putin would continue to march through Europe if he were allowed. I think he might go to the Balkans next. I think he might have a showdown with Poland or one of our NATO allies,” he told reporters. “To put it bluntly, I would rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys,” he said.
HOUSE TAKES KEY TEST VOTE FOR JOHNSON’S $95B FOREIGN AID PLAN AFTER DEMS HELP IT ADVANCE
Johnson said Russian President Vladimir Putin is part of a new “axis of evil” (ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)
But his support for foreign aid, particularly Ukraine, is also threatening to cut short his tenure as House speaker. Greene filed a resolution for a House-wide vote to oust Johnson, known as a motion to vacate, last month in protest of his work with Democrats on government spending and foreign aid.
Two more House Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., formally backed her resolution this week.
“[R]ather than spending the resources to secure our southern border and combating the invasion of 11 million illegals and despite repeated promises there would be no additional money going to Ukraine without first securing our border, the United States House of Representatives, under the direction of the Speaker, is on the verge of sending another $61 billion to further draw America into an endless and purposeless war in Ukraine,” Gosar said in a statement on Friday. “I have added my name in support of the motion to vacate the Speaker. Our border cannot be an afterthought.”
TENSIONS ERUPT ON HOUSE FLOOR AS CONSERVATIVES CONFRONT JOHNSON ON $95B FOREIGN AID PLAN
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, an opponent of Ukraine aid, threatened to oust Johnson (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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House leaders do not have to put Greene’s resolution up for a vote unless she files it as “privileged,” at which point it’s required that lawmakers act on it within two legislative days.
Several Democrats, however, have indicated that they were open to helping save Johnson’s job if he put the Ukraine aid bill on the House floor.
The bill with roughly $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific overwhelmingly passed 385 to 34 earlier on Saturday.