The U.S. House on Saturday was swiftly pushing through a series of votes in a rare weekend session aimed toward approving a $95 billion package of foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies.
Democrats and Republicans in the the narrowly-GOP controlled chamber joined together after a grueling months-long fight over renewed American support for repelling Russia’s invasion.
With overwhelming support, the House approved the Ukraine portion, a $61 billion aid package, in a strong showing of American backing as lawmakers race to deliver a fresh round of U.S. support to the war-torn ally. Some lawmakers cheered, waiving blue-and-yellow flags of Ukraine.
The $26 billion package aiding Israel and providing humanitarian relief to citizens of Gaza also easily cleared. Each segment of the aid package faced an up-or-down vote.
A national security bill that includes a provision forcing sale of the popular platform TikTok was quickly approved, as was another supporting Indo-Pacific allies.
The unusual process allowed unique coalitions to form around the bills, pushing them forward. The whole package will go to the Senate, where passage in the coming days is nearly assured.
President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.
“The eyes of the world are upon us, and history will judge what we do here and now,” said U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The weekend scene presented a striking display of congressional action after months of dysfunction and stalemate fueled by Republicans, who hold the majority but are deeply split over foreign aid, particularly for Ukraine as it fights Russia’s invasion.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., putting his job on the line, had to rely on Democratic support to ensure the military and humanitarian package is approved, and help flows to the U.S. allies.
What Mass. lawmakers said
Among them was U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-4th District, a Jewish lawmaker and former Marine, who has been outspoken in his support for both Israel and Ukraine and sharply critical of China’s ambitions.
In a statement, the Newtown lawmaker said his vote Saturday was a “[vote] in defense of democracies.”
“This national security bill has a big price tag, but it’s a bargain. For a tenth of what Congress spends annually on the military, we are investing in a free world that is more strong, self-reliant, and safer,” he said. “The result is that while thousands of Americans have been hired to manufacture our arms, none have been deployed to bear arms.”
Auchincloss said his vote also was a rebuke to the “the axis of China, Russia, and Iran.”
“These autocracies are working together to upend the Pax Americana that has supported freedom, democracy, and the rule of law,” he said, calling for swift action by the U.S. Senate. “The United States must respond by working together with our allies to fight back.”
In a post to X, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-4th District, also a former Marine, said he was “proud to have voted to stand up to dictators and butchers around the world by voting to send aid to Ukraine, Taiwan, Gaza, and Israel.”
In a post to X earlier in the week, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-1st District, the dean of the Bay State’s House delegation, said that “with Israel under attack, the United States must stand with our ally and its people,” as he called for a vote on funding.
In an extensive statement, U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, D-3rd District, observed that “while innocent Palestinians are on the brink of famine, Russia is taking ground in Ukraine, Iran and its proxies are launching attacks in the Middle East, and China is extending its reach in the Indo-Pacific.”
“We will not turn our backs on innocent civilians and our allies,” Trahan said.
U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, D-5th District, the Democratic whip, called the aid package “imperfect,” but noted it was a “a critical step toward a more just future.”
“As caretakers of the world’s most powerful republic, we cannot turn away from the threat of tyranny and the horrors of human suffering,” Clark noted on X.
The Scene on Capitol Hill
Saturday morning opened with a somber and serious debate and unusual sense of purpose, Republican and Democratic leaders united to urge swift passage that would ensure the United States supports its allies and remains a leader on the world stage. The House’s visitor galleries crowded with onlookers.
“Sometimes when you are living history, as we are today, you don’t understand the significance of the actions of the votes that we make on this House floor, of the effect that it will have down the road,” said New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “This is a historic moment.”
Passage through the House would clear away the biggest hurdle to Biden’s funding request, first made in October as Ukraine’s military supplies began to run low. The GOP-controlled House, skeptical of U.S. support for Ukraine, struggled for months over what to do, first demanding that any assistance be tied to policy changes at the U.S.-Mexico order, only to immediately reject a bipartisan Senate offer along those very lines.
Reaching an endgame has been an excruciating lift for Johnson that has tested both his resolve and his support among Republicans, with a small but growing number now openly urging his removal from the speaker’s office. Yet congressional leaders cast the votes as a turning point in history — an urgent sacrifice as U.S. allies are beleaguered by wars and threats from continental Europe to the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific.
“The only thing that has kept terrorists and tyrants at bay is the perception of a strong America, that we would stand strong,” Johnson said this week. “This is a very important message that we are going to send the world.”
Opponents, particularly the hard-right Republicans from Johnson’s majority, argued that the U.S. should focus on the home front, addressing domestic border security and the nation’s rising debt load, and they warned against spending more money, which largely flows to American defense manufacturers, to produce weaponry used overseas.
Still, Congress has seen a stream of world leaders visit in recent months, from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, all but pleading with lawmakers to approve the aid. Globally, the delay left many questioning America’s commitment to its allies.
At stake has also been one of Biden’s top foreign policy priorities — halting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s advance in Europe. After engaging in quiet talks with Johnson, the president quickly endorsed Johnson’s plan this week, paving the way for Democrats to give their rare support to clear the procedural hurdles needed for a final vote.
“We have a responsibility, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans to defend democracy wherever it is at risk,” the House Democratic leader, New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, said during the debate
While aid for Ukraine will likely win a majority in both parties, a significant number of progressive Democrats are expected to vote against the bill aiding Israel as they demand an end to the bombardment of Gaza that has killed thousands of civilians.
At the same time, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has loomed large over the fight, weighing in from afar via social media statements and direct phone calls with lawmakers as he tilts the GOP to a more isolationist stance with his “America First” brand of politics.
Ukraine’s defense once enjoyed robust, bipartisan support in Congress, but as the war enters its third year, a bulk of Republicans oppose further aid. Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., offered an amendment to zero out the money, but it was rejected.
At one point, Trump’s opposition essentially doomed the bipartisan Senate proposal on border security. This past week, Trump also issued a social media post that questioned why European nations were not giving more money to Ukraine, though he spared Johnson from criticism and said Ukraine’s survival was important.
Still, the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus has derided the legislation as the “America Last” foreign wars package and urged lawmakers to defy Republican leadership and oppose it because the bills do not include border security measures.
Johnson’s hold on the speaker’s gavel has also grown more tenuous in recent days as three Republicans, led by Greene, supported a “motion to vacate” that can lead to a vote on removing the speaker. Egged on by far-right personalities, she is also being joined by a growing number of lawmakers including Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who is urging Johnson to voluntarily step aside, and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz
The speaker’s office has been working furiously to drum up support for the bill, as well as for Johnson, R-La.
The package includes several Republican priorities that Democrats endorse, or at least are willing to accept. Those include proposals that allow the U.S. to seize frozen Russian central bank assets to rebuild Ukraine; impose sanctions on Iran, Russia, China and criminal organizations that traffic fentanyl; and legislation to require the China-based owner of the popular video app TikTok to sell its stake within a year or face a ban in the United States.
Still, the all-out push to get the bills through Congress is a reflection not only of politics, but realities on the ground in Ukraine. Top lawmakers on national security committees, who are privy to classified briefings, have grown gravely concerned about the situation in recent weeks. Russia has increasingly used satellite-guided gliding bombs — which allow planes to drop them from a safe distance — to pummel Ukrainian forces beset by a shortage of troops and ammunition.
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Original story HERE.