By Richard Cowan, Moira Warburton and Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday passed a $95 billion legislative package providing security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, with broad bipartisan support, despite stiff objections from hardline Republicans. .
The legislation now moves to the Democratic-majority Senate, which approved a similar measure more than two months ago. US leaders, from Democratic President Joe Biden to Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, had urged Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to raise the issue for a vote.
The Senate will begin considering the House-passed bill on Tuesday, with some preliminary votes in the afternoon. Final approval was expected next week, paving the way for Biden to sign it into law.
The bills allocate $60.84 billion to address the conflict in Ukraine, including $23 billion to replenish U.S. weapons, stockpiles and facilities; $26 billion for Israel, including $9.1 billion for humanitarian needs, and $8.12 billion for the Indo-Pacific, including Taiwan.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed his thanks, saying U.S. lawmakers had moved to keep “history on the right track.”
“The vital U.S. relief bill passed by the House today will stop the war from spreading, save thousands and thousands of lives, and help both of our nations become stronger,” Zelenskiy said on X.
It is unclear how quickly new military funding for Ukraine will dry up, likely prompting calls for further action from Congress.
Biden, who had been urging Congress to approve the additional aid to Ukraine since last year, said in a statement: “It comes at a time of grave urgency, with Israel facing unprecedented attacks from Iran and Ukraine under continuous bombing by Russia”.
The vote on approving financing for Ukraine was 311-112. Significantly, 112 Republicans opposed the legislation, with only 101 in support.
“Mike Johnson is a lame idiot… he’s done,” far-right Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene later told reporters.
She has been a leading opponent of aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia and has taken measures that threaten to remove Johnson from office on this issue. However, Greene stopped short of doing so on Saturday.
During the vote, several lawmakers waved small Ukrainian flags as it became clear that one element of the package was about to be approved. Johnson warned lawmakers that it was a “breach of decorum.”
Meanwhile, the House’s actions during a rare Saturday session exposed some cracks in what is generally solid support for Israel within Congress. In recent months, progressive Democrats have expressed anger at the Israeli government and its conduct in the war on Gaza.
Saturday’s vote, in which aid to Israel was approved by a vote of 366-58, had 37 Democrats and 21 Republicans in opposition.
The passage of the long-awaited legislation is being closely watched by U.S. defense contractors, who could be in line for huge contracts to supply equipment for Ukraine and other U.S. partners.
Johnson this week chose to ignore ouster threats from hardline members of his fractious 218-213 majority and press ahead with the measure that includes funding for Ukraine as it struggles to fight off a two-year Russian invasion.
The unusual package of four bills also includes a measure that includes a threat to ban the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok and the potential transfer of seized Russian assets to Ukraine.
Some hardline Republicans, who express strong opposition to further aid to Ukraine, argue that the United States cannot afford it, given the growing national debt of $34 trillion. They have repeatedly raised threats to oust Johnson, who became speaker in October after his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, was ousted by party hardliners.
“It’s not the perfect legislation, it’s not the legislation we would write if Republicans were running both the House, the Senate and the White House,” Johnson told reporters Friday. “This is the best possible product we can get under these circumstances to meet these really important obligations.”
Rep. Bob Good, chairman of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, told reporters Friday that the bills represent a “slide into the abyss of a greater fiscal crisis and the latest American policies that reflect Biden and (Senate Democratic Majority Leader) Chuck) Schumer and (House Democratic Leader Hakeem) Jeffries, and they do not reflect the American people.”
But Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who wields enormous influence in the party, expressed support for Johnson on April 12 and said in a Thursday social media post that Ukraine’s survival was important to the United States.