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Barbara Sprunt, NPR

House passes foreign aid bills to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan

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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, seen here at the U.S. Capitol on April 19, said the foreign aid package isn't what Republicans would write if they were in the majority, but said it's an important package to pass.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, seen here at the U.S. Capitol on April 19, said the foreign aid package isn't what Republicans would write if they were in the majority, but said it's an important package to pass.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The House of Representatives has voted to pass roughly a $95 billion foreign aid package that includes funding to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

Democratic support outweighed Republican opposition from those who had various frustrations with the speaker, including that he put forth a vote on Ukraine aid without first securing support for a bill aimed to strengthen security along the U.S.-Southern border.

The House-passed bills are similar to a $95 billion package that passed in the Senate in February.

The White House and Congressional Democrats urged Speaker Johnson to hold a vote on that package in the wake of Iran's recent unprecedented attack on Israel, and amid briefings that Ukraine is in dire need of U.S. aid.

Aid for Ukraine remains deeply unpopular with various members in Johnson's conference. By breaking the package up into distinct bills for aid to the three countries — along with a fourth bill aimed at implementing sanctions and policies to counter China, Iran and Russia — Johnson allowed members to vote their conscience on each piece of legislation.

President Biden said in a statement on Wednesday that he supports the House package, which now moves to the Senate.

Ahead of the vote, Rep. Michael McCaul, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, said "history will judge us by our actions here today."

"The world is watching. Our adversaries are watching," the Texas Republican said.

Take a closer look at what's inside the House foreign aid package.

Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., spoke to reporters on Capitol Hill following a foreign aid bill vote on April 19. He said he doesn't support the motion to vacate House Speaker Johnson.
Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., spoke to reporters on Capitol Hill following a foreign aid bill vote on April 19. He said he doesn't support the motion to vacate House Speaker Johnson.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Eyes on potential motion to vacate vote

On Friday, after the House cleared a procedural vote to advance the bills to a Saturday vote on full passage, a third Republican member signed onto the effort to remove Johnson as speaker.

Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar blasted the speaker for prioritizing Ukraine aid over efforts to secure the southern border.

This comes about a month after Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene first filed the motion to vacate resolution nearly a month ago, in part over frustration with the speaker on how he handled a $1.2 trillion spending package.

House Freedom Caucus chair Bob Good, R-Va., told reporters on Friday that although he doesn't defend Johnson's performance as speaker, he thinks it's not in the interest of the Republican party to go through another speakership fight six months before an election.

"I hope they will not move forward with that," he said of the GOP trio that is sponsoring the motion to vacate resolution. "I think we ought to have a contest in November, a deliberative process to select, hopefully, the speaker of the House majority. But I don't think it'd be a wise course of action to do that now."

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.