Congress finally passes $60.8bn billion Ukraine aid bill as speaker’s fate hangs in the balance

House Speaker Johnson prepares to vote on foreign aid packages to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan

The House of Representatives finally passed aid for Ukraine on Saturday in a move that could threaten Speaker Mike Johnson’s political future.

Members voted 311-112 to pass the $60.8bn package, which the Senate had previously passed. The legislation’s successful passage elicited cheers and waving of Ukrainian flags on the House floor, as well as chants of “Slava Ukraini!”. Angry conservatives fumed at their colleagues after the vote, with one speaking into the mic: “Put those damn flags away!”.

Passage of the three foreign aid bills through the Senate is slated to take place on Tuesday, per Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“If the hotline clears this morning, we expect to announce an agreement allowing the next vote on Tuesday, early afternoon”, said the majority leader, according to Punchbowl News. Parts of the legislation were already passed by the upper chamber, making the path to the president’s desk fairly straightforward from here.

The real political drama is expected to play out in the House, where conservatives are voicing frustrations over Mike Johnson’s governing style and willingness to rely on Democratic votes to pass major pieces of legislation which significant numbers of Republicans oppose. A third GOP member, Paul Gosar, on Friday signed on to the motion to oust Mr Johnson as speaker and that number may well grow after Saturday’s votes.

A number of Democrats have already indicated that they will extend a political lifeline to Mr Johnson should that happen, but the speaker’s detractors argue that Democratic support will only hasten his downfall.

“Every Democrat who walks across the aisle to try to save the Republican speaker is going to cause two or three more Republicans to join the effort because, at that point, you’re … ceding control of the House of Representatives to a contingent of Democrats,” Thomas Massie, one of the three Republicans supporting the motion to vacate, told Politico’s Playbook newsletter.

Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, spoke to reporters on Saturday and said that his caucus would “have that conversation” about saving Mr Johnson “once the legislation is passed”.

While support for the motion to vacate is growing, even supporters of such a measure admit that ousting Speaker Mike Johnson would throw the lower chamber back into chaos. Last fall, it took Republicans more than three weeks to coalesce around a candidate after the ouster of Kevin McCarthy by a contingent of eight Republicans.

Speaking to reporters in a gaggle on the House steps on Thursday, the leader of that anti-McCarthy coalition, Matt Gaetz, said that passing a motion to vacate against Mike Johnson “could put the [GOP] conference in peril”.

A piece of ride-along immigration legislation containing several of the GOP’s priorities outlined in the hardline H.R. 2 bill separately died in the House on Saturday. It required two-thirds of the chamber for passage, a side effect of passing it under suspension of the chamber’s rules. Just a handful of Democrats supported it.

Legislation dealing with a wider range of issues including sanctions on Iran and Russia may also require tinkering due to the provision forcing the sale of TikTok, though President Joe Biden has come out in support of that specific provision and it may end up receiving sufficient bipartisan support. The second ride-along bill passed with a vote of 360-58. A previous bill forcing the sale of TikTok passed in March, but has since stalled in the Senate.

This is a breaking news story. More follows…

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