What’s in the House Aid Package for Ukraine and Israel?

House Republican leaders Wednesday released a $95 billion foreign-aid and national-security proposal aimed at fortifying allies while replenishing depleted U.S. weapons stockpiles.

The proposal laid out by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) comprises four bills. Three contain money related to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, and a fourth is stuffed with measures appealing to conservative priorities such as cashing in on seized Russian assets and cracking down on TikTok. President Biden has thrown his support behind the package.

House lawmakers are expected to vote Saturday on the bills. Here’s what’s in them.

How much money would go toward helping Ukraine?

Roughly $60 billion is aimed at helping Ukraine fight off the Russian invasion while simultaneously funding the U.S. defense industry.

The most direct assistance for Ukraine’s military amounts to roughly $14 billion, which would pay for weapons, training and other operational support that would flow into the country through the Pentagon’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. As of last spring, that fund had paid for thousands of Javelin missiles, in addition to ammunition, rockets and other weapons.

More than $30 billion would be spent on the broad Ukraine war effort. Some of that money would help the U.S. replenish its weapons inventory to make up for what has been sent to Ukraine through presidential drawdown authority. Other funding would strengthen U.S. military operations across Europe through efforts meant to counter Russian aggression.

Another component is $9.5 billion in forgivable loans to support Ukraine’s government, which also could help the country’s needs in the energy sector and infrastructure. The component represents a change from a similar bill that passed the Senate in February, where the money was a grant.

Smaller measures include $481 million to help Ukrainians resettle into new neighborhoods and could be used to pay for emergency housing, English language classes and job training. A total of $8 million is allocated for an inspector general to watch how the money is spent, an anti-corruption measure.

What about Israel?

For Israel, the proposal contains $26 billion—direct aid as well as money for replenishing U.S. stockpiles and supporting U.S. operations in the region. The measure includes $4 billion for Israel’s Iron Dome and David’s Sling missile-and-rocket defense systems, used recently to repel attacks from Iran. The plan also includes $1.2 billion for the Iron Beam defense system, which is under development, which uses lasers to intercept missiles and drones.

Roughly $9 billion is marked for humanitarian assistance, which would help Gaza residents and other populations. Some of that money also could flow to Ukraine.

What about the Indo-Pacific region?

The proposal also allocates about $8 billion to support Taiwan, which U.S. officials say faces the threat of invasion by China in the coming years. Some of that money is aimed at strengthening military forces of U.S. allies in the Pacific region, but money also could flow to building up the U.S. submarine industrial base as part of the deterrence effort.

The Senate passed its own foreign-aid package in February. How does this compare?

The amounts of money that would flow to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan are nearly identical to what the Senate approved. The main distinction between both proposals is the existence of the House’s fourth bill, which contains policy measures.

The biggest change in Ukraine aid from the Senate package to the House proposal has to do with economic and government-related support for Ukraine. House lawmakers have offered $9.5 billion in the form of forgivable loans, rather than grants. Turning some of the aid into loans was a demand of former President Donald Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee.

What is in the fourth bill?

It includes a grab bag of items, including a revised measure forcing a sale of TikTok. A previous House bill gave the popular app’s Chinese-controlled owner Bytedance six months to find a buyer. The new language would give the company up to a year.

The measure also authorizes the REPO Act, a measure that U.S. officials have debated to try to use some of the $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to pay for the damage caused by the invasion of Ukraine. Western allies have been discussing how to execute on the idea without violating international law.

The bill also would give U.S. officials the power to impose sanctions as a way to deter criminals from trafficking fentanyl or other opioid-related drugs.

Some House Republicans are upset about what the bills don’t contain. What got left out?

Johnson is under fire for not including border-security measures some in the GOP wanted that are aimed at reducing the large number of migrants coming into the U.S. across the Mexico border. Other House Republicans wanted the package to undo the Biden administration’s decision to freeze the approvals process for new plants to export U.S. liquefied natural gas.

This explanatory article may be periodically updated.

Write to Katy Stech Ferek at [email protected]