Speaker Mike Johnson told GOP lawmakers that he’ll try to pass four measures this week to send aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan — each in separate bills, according to two Republicans in the private Monday meeting.
A fourth proposed bill would include a package of related measures, including a lend-lease deal for military aid, a ban on TikTok in the U.S. and provisions to sell off assets seized from Russian oligarchs.
It’s far from certain that Johnson would have the votes to bring the bills to the floor, given the procedural hurdles of Republicans’ narrow majority that have vexed the speaker for months. Johnson would need near-unanimous support from his own conference to bring the whole package of bills up for passage, a procedure known as a rules vote, plus prior approval from a Rules Committee stacked with conservatives who may resist based on Ukraine aid.
Earlier Monday, hardliners in the House Freedom Caucus released a statement saying they opposed using necessary cash for Israel to “ram through Ukraine aid.” But Johnson’s proposal still had some early, tepid support from that group.
“I like that’s it’s separate bills,” said Freedom Caucus member Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.). But asked if he would approve the so-called rule, which would allow all four bills to come up for a vote, he demurred: “We haven’t even seen the bills, I mean good grief.”
If even a handful of conservatives oppose that procedural vote, then Johnson would need Democratic support to move forward — and it’s incredibly rare for the minority party to assist on those rules votes. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declined to comment Monday on whether he expected Democrats would support the package: “We’re not going to come to any conclusion about process until we understand the substance.”
If the House passed all four bills, they would not be packaged together before heading to the Senate, meaning the upper chamber would have to take separate votes on each piece of legislation, according to GOP lawmakers. It’s unclear if Johnson has Senate support for his proposal, given the upper chamber’s leaders are continuing to insist on their own bipartisan version of foreign aid legislation that combines cash for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.
