The main points
- The House of Representatives passed four bills aimed at providing aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as well as a measure to force ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, to sell the app.
- All four bills now head to the Senate for a vote, likely in the coming days.
- The House approval is a major step toward ending the long impasse over foreign aid, first proposed by President Biden in October.
The House of Representatives on Saturday approved a series of bills aimed at providing aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as well as a package that includes forcing the Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok.
After a morning of discussions in the House, the four bills will be consolidated into one package and sent to the Senate for approval. It will then be sent to President Joe Biden for his signature.
“I understand this is not perfect legislation,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Los Angeles, said Saturday after the vote. “We would rather send bullets into the conflict abroad than send our boys and our troops. I think this is an important time and an important opportunity to make this decision.
Johnson's decision to hold the vote carried many political risks, as the most radical members of his party threatened to oust him. In March, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced a motion to remove Johnson from office, but has not yet forced a vote on the measure.
“As I have said many times, I do not enter this building concerned about a motion to evacuate,” Mr. Johnson said Saturday. “I have to do my job.”
After the end of long-stalled foreign aid, Johnson received a wave of public statements thanking him.
“I want to thank President Johnson, Leader Jeffries, and the bipartisan coalition of House lawmakers who voted to prioritize our national security,” Biden said in a statement. “I urge the Senate to quickly send this package to my office so I can sign it.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., indicated Saturday that the Senate could vote on the package Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a message on the
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz also on Saturday thanked Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., for helping deliver the aid.
The bills allocate more than $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, more than $26 billion to Israel, and more than $8 billion to the security of Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific. The fourth bill includes a measure to force Chinese company ByteDance to sell social media platform TikTok within nine months – although the president could propose a 90-day extension – or face a nationwide ban .
“It is unfortunate that the House is using the cover of crucial foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again hide a ban bill,” a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday.
House approval is a crucial next step for foreign aid, which has been in limbo since President Biden first proposed it in October. After the long-awaited vote on Ukraine, a crowd of House Democrats waving Ukrainian flags erupted into a chorus of cheers.
In February, the Senate passed a $95 billion aid version to finance Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. However, the House effectively suspended this bill due to political threats from radical Republicans like Rep. Greene.
Despite the looming political backlash, President Johnson was persuaded to reconsider the foreign aid program after Iran attempted to strike Israel last weekend. The escalation sparked a new bipartisan push to push the House of Representatives to act in favor of Israel.
In response, Johnson placed the foreign aid program at the top of the House agenda. He outlined a plan to regulate foreign aid in separate bills, which he presented Monday evening to his Republican colleagues.
After that meeting, Greene expressed dissatisfaction with Johnson's proposed foreign aid bills, but stressed that she had not yet decided whether to force a vote to oust him.
“I think this is another misdirection for President Johnson at our conference,” she said monday.
Greene's expulsion proposal dominated Saturday's vote. As he entered the House, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Los Angeles, told NBC News he did not expect Greene to force a vote on the proposal Saturday.