By STEPHEN GROVES and LISA MASCARO (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is dealing with an unusual Saturday session to pass $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies, with Democrats and Republicans coming together behind the bill after a tough fight over renewed American support for pushing back against Russia’s invasion into Ukraine.
Before the vote, the House started a serious debate with an uncommon sense of purpose as Republican committee chairs and top Democrats on the panels united to urge quick passage to ensure the United States supports its allies and remains a leader on the world stage.
“The world is watching us, and history will judge what we do here and now,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The weekend scene showed a significant 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. Speaker Mike Johnson, risking his job, is relying on Democratic support to ensure the military and humanitarian package is approved, and help flows to the U.S. allies.
There will be a series of votes on three aid bills, for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific, as well as a fourth that contains several other foreign policy proposals, including a clampdown on the popular social media platform TikTok.
If the votes are successful, the package will go to the Senate, where passage in the coming days is nearly assured. President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.
“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