The House on Saturday approved a series of bills providing tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to embattled U.S. allies overseas, breaking a months-long impasse that bitterly divided Congress and sending the package along to the Senate.
The legislation — combining military aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan with humanitarian assistance for Gaza — marked a victory for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who had taken the politically risky step of bringing the proposals to the floor over the objection of hardline conservatives, several of whom want to remove him from power.
That decision has won the Speaker support from Ukraine’s backers in both parties, who argued the need for an aggressive strategy to help Kyiv’s forces counter Russia’s actions in Europe.
However, it’s increased tensions between Johnson and his right flank, which was already angry with the Speaker for his willingness to negotiate bipartisan deals with President Biden and felt betrayed that GOP leaders gave up demands for stricter border security.
Here are five takeaways from Saturday’s significant votes.
Ukraine, Israel, Gaza finally get their aid
The focus on the political maneuvering of passing the foreign aid package through Congress has sometimes overshadowed the situations in the hotspots where the new assistance is set to go.
But recent developments in those war-torn regions have increased the urgency surrounding that aid on Capitol Hill, and ultimately convinced Johnson that providing the aid — both military and humanitarian — was worth the risk to his leadership position.
In Ukraine, for instance, Kyiv’s defenders are operating with limited weapons as Russian forces have made recent territorial gains — dynamics that led CIA Director Bill Burns to warn this week that Ukraine will lose the war by year’s end without additional U.S. support.
In Israel, recent attacks from Iran have emphasized the vulnerability of Tel Aviv’s position in a region hostile to its very existence.
Taiwan is facing new threats to its sovereignty from a Chinese Communist Party that has long had imperial designs on its island neighbor and has been emboldened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
And in Gaza, where over half the population are children, more than 34,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces as they seek to root out Hamas terrorists who conducted the Oct. 7 massacre.
The House-passed foreign aid package addresses each crisis, providing about $61 billion for Ukraine; $26 billion for Israel; $8 billion for Taiwan and other U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific; and over $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza and other conflict zones worldwide.
“We have a responsibility — not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans — to do what is necessary to defend democracy wherever it is at risk in the best interest of the free world,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said.
An evolution for Mike Johnson — that comes with a risk
The long process of getting Ukraine aid approved in the House was a change for Johnson, who started out doubtful of Kyiv but ended up supporting it even at the risk of his job.
Last time the House dealt with aid to Ukraine — $300 million in September — Johnson was against it. Nearly seven months later, the Louisiana Republican played a key role in getting $61 billion in assistance for Kyiv on the House floor, against the wishes of conservatives who opposed it. threatened to force a vote on his ouster.
“Instead of spending money on securing the southern border and dealing with illegal immigration, the House is close to sending $61 billion to Ukraine, as a result of the Speaker's direction, despite previous promises. This move is criticized by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), who is part of a motion to vacate,
Johnson has referred to the intelligence briefings he received as Speaker to explain why he changed his mind on Ukraine aid and was willing to risk his position to secure the assistance.
“I believe providing lethal aid to Ukraine right now is very important,” Johnson said this week. “I truly believe the intel and the briefings that we’ve gotten. I believe Xi and Vladimir Putin and Iran really are an axis of evil.”
Pro-Ukraine Republicans noticed his change — and appreciate it.
“He showed courage today. He’s going to go down in history as saying, ‘I’m gonna do the right thing, I don’t care about the vacate [motion],’” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a moderate leadership ally. “And that’s what leaders are made of.”
Democrats step in to help Johnson
The minority party in the House tends to be relatively powerless, consigned to a role of thrashing futilely against the current while the majority leaders have their way with the workings of the floor and the legislative agenda.
In this Congress, however, those precepts haven’t held.
The Republicans’ small and shrinking majority — combined with the unusual willingness of hardline conservatives to buck their leadership on procedural votes that were once routine — has empowered Democrats with unusual sway over the workings of the lower chamber.
Those dynamics were on full display this week throughout the foreign aid debate. When three conservative members of the House Rules Committee opposed the rule governing the four-bill package, Johnson spoke with Jeffries and the pair secured a deal to have Democrats on the panel make up the difference.
Later, when 55 conservatives voted against that same rule on the floor, it was again Democrats who took the rare step of crossing the aisle to pass the measure — and allow final votes on the foreign aid bills.
“The most bipartisan rule in my career,” said a chuckling McCaul.
The inability of Johnson and his leadership team to move those measures with Republican support empowered Jeffries and the Democrats, helping them secure policy victories and ensuring that the final product would look much more like the Senate-passed package than conservatives wanted.
McCaul said they need to repair relationships and ensure that party members follow the rules.
The danger to Johnson has become less severe, but it hasn't disappeared completely.
The danger to Johnson's position as leader is still present — three Republicans support a move to remove him — but its strength has decreased after conservatives questioned the idea, former President Trump backed the Speaker, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) hesitated on when she would push for a vote on the resolution.
After strongly opposing the idea of providing more aid to Ukraine for months and seeing the House approve it, Greene chose not to push for a vote on her resolution to remove her from her position, allowing lawmakers to leave Washington without taking action to remove her.
Greene told reporters shortly after the Ukraine aid vote that she would let her colleagues go home and listen to their constituents because she believes people have been too focused on supporting foreign wars and the gun industry in America, and need to understand the anger of Americans.
She added that the Republican movement and grassroots are very angry and demanding the removal of Mike Johnson, but her colleagues have not listened. She looks forward to them going home and hearing from the people back at home.
However, even if Greene were to defy Trump's vote of confidence and initiate a vote to remove Johnson, Democrats would probably step in and protect the Speaker. In recent weeks, many Democrats have said they would defend Johnson from a conservative rebellion because he supported aid to Ukraine, which he did on Saturday.
Nevertheless, some Republicans still foresee a move to remove the Speaker in the future.
Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said that with much of this behind them, they can move forward with more normalcy, unless a move to remove the Speaker is made, which is possible.
TikTok faces a possible ban
Johnson made several changes to the foreign aid bill passed by the Senate, which he called “innovations,” in an effort to ease conservative concerns. This included adding a provision that could lead to a ban of the popular app TikTok.
In March, the House overwhelmingly passed a bill that would force TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app within about five months of it becoming law, or it would be prohibited from U.S. app stores and web hosting services. The fate of this legislation in the Senate was uncertain.
Now, a revised version of the bill is on its way to Senate approval, which gives ByteDance a year to sell the app, extending the deadline beyond the November election. It is a significant achievement for those who want to ban TikTok, as they have raised concerns about the national security risks the app poses in the U.S.
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), who postponed his resignation to stay for the foreign aid vote, stated shortly after the package was passed that this legislation also protects Americans from the national security threat posed by Chinese Communist Party control of TikTok.
