US House Speaker Mike Johnson has unveiled a carefully crafted plan to split the aid package for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan into separate votes in an attempt to bridge the political divide in the House on foreign policy.
Facing sharp opposition from conservatives who actively oppose aid to Ukraine, the Republican Speaker’s move on the foreign aid package was a potential watershed moment, the first significant action on the bill after more than two months of delay.
But Johnson’s intention to hold four separate votes on separate parts of the package also leaves open the possibility of significant changes from the $95 billion ($148 billion) aid package that the Senate passed to the House in February.
It remains unclear whether the House could end up passing a package similar to the Senate bill or something significantly different, which could complicate months of painstaking efforts to get congressional approval for Ukraine’s military funding. Johnson said:
We will let the House work its will.
However, while the House of Representatives tried to take action, conflicts around the world escalated. Israel’s military chief said on Tuesday that his country would respond to an Iranian missile strike at the weekend.
Ukraine’s military chief warned at the weekend that the battle situation in the east of the country had “significantly deteriorated in recent days” as warming temperatures allowed Russian forces to launch a new offensive. Johnson said:
There are precipitating events around the globe that we’re all watching very carefully, and we know the world is watching us to see how we react.
Democrats in the House of Representatives may be willing to help Johnson accept the aid piecemeal and even agree to some of the additional measures being discussed by Republicans, such as providing some of the economic aid to Ukraine in the form of loans.
Controversial Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene is already threatening to remove Johnson as speaker. Walking into a closed-door meeting of Republicans on Monday, she said her message to the speaker was simple: “Don’t fund Ukraine.”
Democrats have been pressuring Johnson to accept a bill simply passed by the Senate that would provide a total of $95 billion to US allies, as well as humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza and Ukraine. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said:
The House must rush to Israel’s aid as quickly as humanly possible, and the only way to do that is passing the Senate’s supplemental ASAP.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, in a letter to lawmakers, pledged to do “everything in our power to resist aggression” around the world and described the situation as akin to the run-up to World War II. He said:
The gravely serious events of this past weekend in the Middle East and Eastern Europe underscore the need for Congress to act immediately. We must take up the bipartisan and comprehensive national security bill passed by the Senate forthwith.
Meanwhile, expecting another Western aid package, the Ukrainian government has issued an ultimatum. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Kyiv might consider stopping attacks on Russian oil refineries if it receives a new batch of Patriot air defence batteries.
According to the minister, when Ukraine’s Western allies ask it to stop attacks, they do not offer anything in return. The Ukrainian minister said on the air of a Ukrainian TV channel:
We need to think with our own interests. If our partners say: we give you seven Patriot batteries, we have a request to you, you can not do this and this, then there is a subject for conversation. And if there are no batteries, no aid package and you are asked for something, then there is no subject for conversation – everyone survives as they can.
Kuleba told the Washington Post on 10 April that his “nice and quiet” diplomacy had failed and he now plans to ask the West for air defence systems in a tough way.
