Live updates: House to vote on Ukraine, Israel aid bills

The House plans to vote Saturday on a $95 billion package of foreign aid bills that would provide funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, among other priorities. The bills have moved forward despite a far-right threat to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) if he advances Ukraine aid.

Here’s what to know

• A rare coalition of Democrats and Republicans voted overwhelmingly Friday to pass a procedural measure, known as a rule, to advance the four-part legislation.
• The House plans to vote separately Saturday on the four bills. The House is also set to consider a fifth bill of GOP priorities to secure the border, but it will mostly likely fail because it requires a two-thirds vote, unlike the other bills, which require a simple majority.
• If passed, the foreign aid package will go to the Senate for consideration before the package can be sent to President Biden, who has endorsed it.

8:31 AM: What the bills under consideration would do

Live updates: House to vote on Ukraine, Israel aid bills

One bill provides $60 billion for Ukraine. Most of the money goes to U.S. weapons manufacturers to build back depleted U.S. weapons supplies, and about 20 percent of that goes directly to the country in the form of a loan. The president can cancel Ukraine’s debt, however, after Nov. 15.

A second bill would provide about $17 billion in offensive and defensive weapons for Israel, as well as just over $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza and elsewhere.

The third bill would provide $8.1 billion for the Indo-Pacific region to deter China, and a fourth bill is full of Republican priorities, including measures to regulate TikTok and allow the resale of seized Russian assets.

Each bill, because they will be voted on separately, will have a different coalition of members supporting them.

The House will also vote Saturday on a fifth bill of Republican priorities to secure the border and limit migrants entering the United States. But it will most likely fail because the measure needs the support of two-thirds of the House since it is moving under a different process.

If passed, the foreign-aid package will then go to the Senate, where senators will have to vote on it before the bills can be sent to President Biden, who has endorsed the package.

By: Leigh Ann Caldwell and Marianna Sotomayor

8:15 AM: Latest news from Middle East does not seem to affect passage

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in Jerusalem on Feb. 18.

A procedural vote Friday to advance the foreign aid package came after Israel carried out a strike on Iran early Friday in retaliation for a barrage of missiles and drones launched by Iran last weekend.

The latest news from the Middle East did not appear to change the likelihood that the House would pass more aid to Israel, even though some Democrats are bluntly critical of the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza.

Most Republicans are expected to back the additional aid. The legislation also includes humanitarian aid for Gaza, which Democrats want.

By: Leigh Ann Caldwell and Marianna Sotomayor

8:00 AM: Johnson sat on foreign-aid funding for two months

House Speaker MIke Johnson is advancing a package of foreign aid bills with aid for Ukraine and Israel included. (Photo by Haiyun Jiang for The Washington Post)

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) sat on foreign-aid funding passed by the Senate for more than two months as he prioritized funding the government and approving an extension of foreign surveillance legislation known as FISA.

He received a tremendous amount of pressure from different factions of his conference — with the anti-Ukraine faction loudly and publicly threatening his job, while the pro-Ukraine funding faction lobbied him behind the scenes.

Ultimately, Johnson decided to advance funding to Ukraine, defending his decision Tuesday as “the right thing” to do.

But he wasn’t able to muscle it through on just Republican votes with his slim majority, having to depend instead on a significant number of Democrats, because 55 members of his conference didn’t back Friday morning’s procedural measure.

Democrats stepped in. They didn’t provide the votes Friday morning for the procedural vote until it became overwhelmingly clear Republicans could not pass the rule on their own. “We won’t let it fail,” said one senior Democratic aide, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to outline internal strategy.

By: Leigh Ann Caldwell and Marianna Sotomayor