WASHINGTON, D.C. – After months of stalling, the House of Representatives might take up legislation that aims to help our foreign allies. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R- LA) told members he’s considering separate votes for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.
The House has faced pressure to pass the Senate’s version of a multi-billion dollar aid package to help Ukraine, Israel, the Indo Pacific and humanitarian efforts in Gaza. The Speaker has faced threats of being ousted from some of his far-right House Republicans if he put the Ukraine legislation on the floor. On Monday, the Speaker told members he plans to put separate bills for Ukraine, Israel and Indo Pacific on the floor this week. Members said by doing this, the Speaker can maintain job security for his own position as well as move forward with critical legislation individually.
Rep. Jack Bergman (R- MI) described the closed-door meeting as productive and constructive and expects the Speaker’s staff will iron out some of the comments members made.
“We’re on a path now I believe to successful legislation that’s number one: do what we’ve been not doing and that’s secure the border with HR2 and then help our allies whether it be Israel, whether it be Ukraine, whether it be Taiwan,” said Rep. Bergman.
The Speaker said those bills could be put on the floor later on this week. We’re told a fourth bill could be put on the floor to ban the social media app TikTok but that is not confirmed yet. This new plan is not favored by all. There’s now a small but growing momentum to oust Speaker Johnson. With republican’s very small majority in the House, the Speaker might need help from across the aisle if the motion to vacate moves forward.
