House Speaker Plans Separate Ukraine, Israel Aid Votes to Overcome Deadlock

House Speaker Mike Johnson plans to separate funding bills for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan to bypass a large bloc of Republicans who oppose sending more money to Kyiv. Photo: Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images

WASHINGTON—House Speaker Mike Johnson plans to bring separate bills funding Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan to the House floor, in a maneuver aimed at breaking a monthlong deadlock over a $95 billion foreign-aid package the Senate passed earlier this year.

Other congressional leaders of both parties and President Biden had urged Johnson to take up the Senate bill. Instead, Johnson is splitting the aid up in an effort to work around a large bloc of Republicans who have long opposed sending more money to Ukraine. Those GOP holdouts, together with some Democrats who have soured on more aid for Israel, could have been enough to sink a combined bill.

Speaking to reporters late Monday, Johnson said his “phone melted over the weekend” with calls from GOP members about how to proceed. The Louisiana Republican said it “was the will of my colleagues to vote on these measures independently and not have them all sandwiched together as the Senate had done.”

He didn’t release the text of the bills and provided scant details, but he said he expected to finish votes on them this week. “We’ll be able to leave knowing that we’ve done our job here,” he said.

 

 

The proposal, while potentially helping the House sidestep an immediate hurdle, could complicate efforts to get the aid packages to Biden’s desk by forcing new action by the Democratic-controlled Senate, where lawmakers might not be on board with any changes planned in the House.

Johnson briefed colleagues on the details of the bills in a closed-door meeting of House Republicans. He has faced intense pressure to pass legislation to help rearm Israel following an attack by Iran and fulfill his long-stalled pledge to further fund Ukraine. He also plans a fourth bill that includes a proposal to use seized Russian assets to help pay for aid to Kyiv. The fourth bill also includes the House legislation that forces a sale or ban of TikTok in the U.S. The legislation won’t have any provisions related to immigration, according to Republicans leaving the meeting. Johnson said he hadn’t determined whether the four bills, if passed, would be sent separately or as a package to the Senate.

Iran’s drone-and-missile attack against Israel this past weekend, in retaliation for a recent strike on an Iranian diplomatic mission in Syria, injected new urgency into Congress’s efforts to help Israel firm up its defenses, six months into its war with Iran-backed Hamas. Biden and many Republican and Democratic lawmakers lined up squarely behind Israel, pledging immediate support.

 

Johnson has also been bombarded with calls from lawmakers and officials in the U.S. and from overseas to move forward with aid for Ukraine, now in the third year of its effort to repel Russia’s invasion. While Johnson has said he supports aid and backers call it critical to Ukraine’s survival, many Republicans oppose more assistance, saying domestic issues such as the immigration surge at the southern border should take precedence.

Biden, during a meeting earlier Monday with Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, had urged an immediate vote on the Senate’s broad package. “They have to do it now—now. There’s overwhelming support in the House and Senate if people would just let a vote take place,” he said.

Fiala, who plans to meet with Johnson on Tuesday, recalled childhood memories of Soviet tanks rolling through his town in 1968. “I don’t want to see this again,” he said. “So we must continue to support Ukraine as long as possible.”Other congressional leaders have been pressing Johnson for months to move the Senate’s bill. 

“The best way to help Israel rebuild its antimissile and antidrone capacity is by passing that supplemental immediately,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), who spoke with Biden as well as Johnson and other congressional leaders on Sunday. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell(R., Ky.) has also urged Johnson to take up the Senate bill.

Biden “made it clear” to House and Senate leaders that the best way to support Israel and Ukraine is to pass the Senate bill, said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. “Time is not on anyone’s side here in either case. So they need to move quickly on this,” Kirby said.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration would oppose an Israel-only bill.

The personal stakes are high for Johnson. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) has filed a motion to remove him from the speaker post but has held off so far on forcing a vote. Many lawmakers expected her to make that move if Johnson moves ahead on a Ukraine measure. 

“This is such a scam and people are so done with it,” said Greene about the new plan.

The House Freedom Caucus said Monday it wouldn’t “abide using the emergency situation in Israel as a bogus justification to ram through Ukraine aid with no offset [on spending] and no security for our own wide-open borders.”House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) has indicated that he thinks Democrats would help Johnson defeat any effort to topple him over Ukraine. He declined to comment on the proposal from Johnson until he sees the details.

Since Johnson assumed the rank of speaker, a steady stream of national-security officials, both from the Biden administration and governments overseas, have worked to convince him that continuing to arm Ukraine is the right decision—and is imperative for U.S. national-security interests abroad.

On Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida lobbied Johnson in a joint address to both chambers of Congress.

“Without U.S. support, how long before the hopes of Ukraine would collapse under the onslaught from Moscow?” Kishida said.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron recently urged European allies to increase their lobbying efforts.

“We need to get on the phone, or in my case go in person, to see Speaker Johnson in the House of Representatives to get that supplemental through,” he said. But when Cameron arrived in Washington, aides received a message saying Johnson was too busy. Cameron instead exchanged text messages with Johnson.

Ken Thomas, Lindsay Wise and Max Colchester contributed to this article.

Write to Lindsay Wise at lindsay.wise@wsj.com and Natalie Andrews at natalie.andrews@wsj.com

Appeared in the April 16, 2024, print edition as 'Speaker to Split Foreign Aid Bills'.