House passes Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan aid

Table Of Content

• Ukraine pulls U.S.-provided Abrams tanks from front lines over Russian drone threats
• U.S. announces new Patriot missiles for Ukraine as part of $6-billion aid package
• Meanwhile: McCarthy says he did not punch Rep. Burchett
• Speaker Johnson will need Democratic support for two-step funding bill
• Biden officials indefinitely postpone ban on menthol cigarettes amid election-year pushback

Each portion of the package — which was broken down into separate bills — received bipartisan support. A majority of Republican members — 112 — voted against aid to Ukraine, with one member voting "present." Thirty-seven Democrats voted against aid to Israel. Johnson’s hold on the speaker’s gavel has also grown more tenuous in recent days as three Republicans, led by Greene, supported a “motion to vacate” that can lead to a vote on removing the speaker. Egged on by far-right personalities, she is also being joined by a growing number of lawmakers including Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who is urging Johnson to voluntarily step aside, and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.). The bills passed weeks after the Senate passed a mammoth bill with aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as well as funding for border security.

Ukraine pulls U.S.-provided Abrams tanks from front lines over Russian drone threats

Also, the bill has now been inserted into a larger foreign aid package, which makes it much harder for lawmakers to oppose the measure. The House of Representatives has voted to pass a $95 billion foreign aid package that includes funding to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. A foreign aid package passed by the US House of Representatives will “exacerbate global crises,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement to CNN on Saturday. The House passed a resolution Tuesday night to impeach Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, over his handling of the southwestern border. The vote was 214 to 213, with all but three present Republicans voting yes. The ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus has derided the legislation as the “America Last” foreign wars package and urged lawmakers to defy Republican leadership and oppose it because the bills do not include border security measures.

U.S. announces new Patriot missiles for Ukraine as part of $6-billion aid package

Together with the $459 billion bill passed earlier this month, it fully funds the federal government to the tune of $1.659 trillion through September, after months of stopgap bills and negotiations. The top Democrat and Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee struck a deal last week to create the commission, breaking a months-long logjam between House leaders about how to structure the independent panel. Thirty-five Republicans voted against the direction of their leadership, which had strongly urged them to vote no on the measure. Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez said he voted to approve legislation to create an independent commission to investigate the attack on the US Capitol because he saw a "breakdown in communications" on Jan. 6. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hasn’t said exactly when he will set up the first test vote to open debate on the Jan. 6 commission bill. But tonight, he took a step that will allow him to bring the bill to the floor as early as next week if he wants.

Meanwhile: McCarthy says he did not punch Rep. Burchett

Ahead of the vote, Rep. Michael McCaul, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, said, "History will judge us by our actions here today." "It comes at a moment of grave urgency, with Israel facing unprecedented attacks from Iran, and Ukraine under continued bombardment from Russia," Biden said. The president urged the Senate to quickly send it to his desk for signature. Two other Republicans and two Democrats were not present for Tuesday’s vote, allowing it to narrowly pass with the three Republican defections. The package includes several Republican priorities that Democrats endorse, or at least are willing to accept. “We did our work here, and I think history will judge it well,” said embattled Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) who is risking his own job to marshal the package to passage.

Ukraine, Israel aid advances in rare House vote as Democrats help Republicans push it forward - The Associated Press

Ukraine, Israel aid advances in rare House vote as Democrats help Republicans push it forward.

Posted: Fri, 19 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Johnson: 'We just had to get the job done'

The policy, which would lengthen the time frame for a sale from an earlier House bill, has Senate buy-in along with Biden’s support, putting TikTok closer than ever to being banned in the U.S. House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green agreed, noting that he was disappointed in today’s foreign aid bill votes, but that he still won’t support removing Johnson. “It's not a failure of leadership, but it's a difference of opinion,” he said. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday celebrated the House's passage of a $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific. “As we have said numerous times before, voting in favor of an impeachment inquiry does not equal impeachment,” Rep. Tom Emmer, a member of the GOP leadership team, said at a news conference Tuesday. Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., spoke to reporters on Capitol Hill following a foreign aid bill vote on April 19.

The tensions on Capitol Hill are hitting their peak after a long period in session. The House has been working for 10 weeks straight, an unusually long time without a break, and several of them were spent on an ugly fight over the speaker's gavel. With 336 in favor, the measure crossed the threshold of 288 required to pass, since three members did not vote.

Some Republicans have said they would like time to debate whether Mayorkas should be impeached, even though debate time is usually not included in impeachment proceedings. Negotiations were underway between the two parties over whether Schumer may allow that time and give senators in both parties a chance to discuss the impeachment before it is dismissed. At a news conference with a group of Republican senators after the articles were delivered, the impeachment managers demanded that Schumer move forward with their case. House Speaker Mike Johnson will send articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate after Congress returns.

His administration brokered a deal that would have had U.S. corporations Oracle and Walmart take a large stake in TikTok. The sale never went through for a number of reasons; one was China, which imposed stricter export controls on its technology providers. Members of both parties, along with intelligence officials, have worried that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over American user data or direct the company to suppress or boost TikTok content favorable to its interests. TikTok has denied assertions that it could be used as a tool of the Chinese government and has said it has not shared U.S. user data with Chinese authorities.

From New York to Arizona: Inside the head-spinning week of Trump’s legal drama

Johnson said he was “pleased with the outcome” after his two-step continuing resolution passed the House. The first, passed in late September, caused a furor among hard-right House Republicans that cost Kevin McCarthy the speakership. The House was paralyzed for three weeks while Republicans worked to coalesce around a new speaker, going through three unsuccessful candidates before Mr. Johnson eventually garnered enough support to become speaker. WASHINGTON — The House on Saturday passed a $95 billion package that includes two long-awaited bills with $60.8 billion of aid for Ukraine and $26 billion in aid for Israel and relief for Gaza. When asked whether he expected a motion to vacate — a rarely used procedural tool to remove the House speaker — Johnson did not respond and continued to walk to the floor.

The White House and congressional Democrats had urged Speaker Mike Johnson to hold a vote on that Senate package in the wake of Iran's recent unprecedented attack on Israel, and amid briefings that Ukraine is in dire need of U.S. aid. The House-passed bills are similar to a $95 billion package that passed the Senate in February but then stalled in the House. While aid for Ukraine failed to win a majority of Republicans, several dozen progressive Democrats voted against the bill aiding Israel as they demanded an end to the bombardment of Gaza that has killed thousands of civilians. The GOP-controlled House struggled for months over what to do, first demanding that any assistance for Ukraine be tied to policy changes at the U.S.-Mexico order, only to immediately reject a bipartisan Senate offer along those very lines.

The decision to hold a vote came as House Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team faced growing pressure to show progress in what has become a nearly yearlong probe centered around the business dealings of Biden’s family members. While their investigation has raised ethical questions, no evidence has emerged that Biden acted corruptly or accepted bribes in his current role or previous office as vice president. Authorizing the monthslong inquiry ensures that the impeachment investigation extends well into 2024, when Biden will be running for reelection and seems likely to be squaring off against former President Donald Trump — who was twice impeached during his time in the White House.

If Democrats are unable to dismiss or table the articles, they could follow the precedent of several impeachment trials for federal judges over the last century and hold a vote to create a trial committee that would investigate the charges. While there is sufficient precedent for this approach, Democrats may prefer to end the process completely, especially in a presidential election year when immigration and border security are top issues. The House swiftly approved $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies in a rare Saturday session as Democrats and Republicans banded together after months of political turmoil over support for repelling Russia’s invasion.