House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Sunday, after Iran's attack on Israel overnight, that the House of Representatives would vote in the coming days on aid to Israel, and suggested including aid to Ukraine in the legislation.
“Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Republican Party realize the necessity of standing by Israel,” Johnson said on Fox News, noting that he had previously submitted two aid bills to help the US ally. “We will try again this week, and the details of this package are being put together. Right now, we are looking at the options and all these complementary issues.
US funding for both Israel and Ukraine has weakened in Congress; Johnson initially refused to approve a $95 billion aid package for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan passed by the Senate, and the Senate refused to approve a House Republican proposal that would make aid to Israel conditional on cuts in domestic spending.
In recent weeks, Johnson has repeatedly pledged to ensure the House of Representatives acts to help Ukraine. He has been searching for a way to organize a foreign aid package that can secure a critical mass of support amid intense Republican resistance to sending aid to Kiev and mounting opposition among Democrats to unrestricted military aid to Israel.
But the attacks from Iran have increased pressure on Johnson to present some sort of package to Parliament this week, which could force him to make a decision he has been agonizing over for weeks.
He left it unclear Sunday whether legislation he said the House would introduce this week would also include aid to Ukraine.
Johnson said he believes some proposals related to aid to Ukraine have broad support among House Republicans. He noted that he met with former President Donald J. Trump on Friday at his home in Florida and that Mr. Trump was supportive of the terms of the aid as a loan.
“I think these ideas can be unanimous, and that's what we've been working on,” Johnson said. “We will send out our package. We will put something together and send it to the Senate and complete these commitments.”
Before the attacks in Israel over the weekend, Johnson privately floated the $95 billion spending package for Ukraine and Israel that passed the Senate in February — and pushed it through the House along with a second bill containing policies endorsed by the White House. The conservative wing of his party. That plan envisioned two back-to-back votes — one on the Senate-passed bill and the other on a stimulus package geared toward appeasing Republicans who otherwise would have been angered by Johnson's decision to pass a bipartisan aid package for Ukraine.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Sunday that the two conflicts were connected, and he expressed hope that they would be addressed together. “What happened in Israel last night happens in Ukraine every night,” he said on CBS' “Face the Nation.”
Mr. McCaul said he had previously obtained a “commitment” from Mr. Johnson that a wide-ranging national security bill would be brought to the House floor for a vote, but the timing was unclear.
“My favorite is this week,” he said.
Minho Kim Contributed to reports.
