US lawmakers will vote on Saturday on sending military aid to Ukraine and Israel

The future of American aid to Ukraine is back on the agenda. House Republican Leader Mike Johnson said Wednesday he would bring separate funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan to a vote on Saturday. “We expect final votes on these bills to take place Saturday evening,” he wrote in a letter to elected officials.

Elected officials will vote on four texts. The first provides nearly $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, mostly military aid. Separate bills also provide more than $26 billion in support for Israel and several billion dollars for Taiwan. Tangled in partisan disputes, Congress has been struggling for months to provide funds for Kyiv, which has been at war with Russia since February 2022.

“Key moment”

US President Joe Biden has repeatedly called on elected officials to urgently pass a military and humanitarian aid package. On Wednesday morning, he repeated his call in a column in the Wall Street Journal.

The US House of Representatives “must urgently pass” these bills, he urged. “If two countries (Ukraine and Israel, editor’s note) are quite capable of defending their sovereignty, then they depend on American assistance in this, including in weapons. And we are at a turning point,” the American president also wrote.

The White House on Tuesday initially cautiously backed the new projects. “At first glance, it would seem that the speaker’s proposal will actually help us deliver aid to Ukraine and Israel,” said John Kirby, a spokesman for the American leader. But President Joe Biden will need “a few more details” to really take a position for or against this set of texts, he added. This statement at the same time angered some Republican members.

Help blocked for several months

This new batch of texts, announced Monday, must first pass the Republican-majority House of Representatives. It will then be examined by the Democratic-majority Senate before possibly going to Joe Biden’s desk so he can release the texts.

A $60 billion package of military and economic aid to Ukraine passed the Senate in February. But House Republicans refused to consider the text, partly because of the dispute over immigration.

The Democratic president spoke Monday with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who put forward the proposal, and insisted there was a “need to move forward this week” on the issue because of the urgency of the situation, John Kirby said.

Ukraine is indeed desperately short of ammunition for the war against Russia, and American loans have dried up. Israel, for its part, faced a direct and unprecedented attack from Iran on Saturday night amid high regional tensions.

Calls for resignation from Republicans

Mike Johnson’s statement was immediately rejected by some of his Republican colleagues, reviving the possibility of a censure vote and a new crisis in the House of Representatives. His predecessor Kevin McCarthy was impeached last year after a rebellion by the Trumpist wing of his party.

Mike Johnson plunged the GOP into “chaos by serving the Democrats and passing the Biden agenda,” criticized Republican elect Marjorie Taylor Greene on X. “No money for Ukraine!!!” “, she added. “Now he’s going to fund wars overseas,” she continued. “The Speaker should announce his resignation date and allow Republicans to choose a new Speaker to put America first and advance the Republican agenda.”

One of his colleagues, Thomas Massey, announced Tuesday that he is joining Marjorie Taylor Greene in supporting a vote of no confidence in Mike Johnson.

The latter ruled out voluntary departure. “I will not resign,” he told the press, deeming the threat of a vote of no confidence “absurd.” “This doesn’t help matters. This will not help the country,” he added.