The latest news from the Middle East did not appear to change the likelihood that the House would pass more aid to Israel, despite some Democrats being bluntly critical of the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza. Most Republicans are expected to back it includes humanitarian aid for Gaza, which Democrats want.
A rare coalition of Democrats and Republicans — 316 — voted overwhelmingly to pass the procedural measure, known as a rule, to advance the four-part legislation Friday morning. In a sign of how tenuous this move is for Republicans, more Democrats — 165 — voted for the rule than Republicans — 151.
This is a pivotal moment for Johnson who has held the speaker’s gavel for nearly six months as he has had to navigate infighting among Republicans over disparate views on policy and tactics. But Relying on the support of Democrats could cost Johnson his job as speaker of the House as at least two Republicans — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) — angry that he is advancing money for Ukraine without first locking down the southern border, are threatening to trigger a motion to remove Johnson.
It was unclear Friday morning when such a vote would be triggered.
Lawmakers in support of the legislation praised the rare show of bipartisanship on the House floor Friday morning.
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a senior member of the party and chair of the Appropriations Committee, said, “I’m so proud of members on both sides of the aisle”
Rules Ranking Member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said he is pleased the series of bills will advance despite his “deep, deep problems about the unconditioned aid to Israel. I was among the first calling for a ceasefire.”
Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Tex.), chair of the Rules Committee, said he wishes border security was part of this package of bills but, “the requirement for America to assert itself as the leader of the free world is not optional, it’s not a requirement we can put on pause.”
Johnson’s plan is to put the four votes on the floor on Saturday, with voting starting midday.
One bill provides $60 billion for Ukraine. Most of the money goes to U.S. weapons manufacturers to build back depleted U.S. weapons supply and about 20 percent of that goes directly to the country in the form of a loan. The president can cancel Ukraine’s debt, however, after November 15, 2024.
A second bill would provide about $17 billion in offensive and defensive weapons for Israel as well as just over $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza and elsewhere. The third bill would provide $8.1 billion for the Indo-Pacific region to deter China and a fourth bill is full of Republican priorities, including banning TikTok and seizing Russian assets.
Each bill, because they will be voted on separately, will have a different coalition of members supporting them.
The House will also vote Saturday under special rules — because this bill did not clear the Rules Committee — on a fifth bill full of Republican priorities to secure the border and limit migrants entering the U.S., but it is most certainly likely to fail because it will need the support of two-thirds of the House.
The bills will then go to the Senate where they will have to vote on foreign aid bills again before it can be sent to President Biden, who has endorsed the package, to sign.
Johnson has sat on foreign aid funding passed by the Senate for more than two months as he prioritized funding the government and approving an extension of foreign surveillance legislation known as FISA. He had received a tremendous amount of pressure from different factions of his conference — with the anti-Ukraine faction loudly and publicly threatening Johnson’s job while the pro-Ukraine funding faction quietly lobbied him behind the scenes.
Ultimately, Johnson decided to advance funding to Ukraine, defending his decision Tuesday as “the right thing” to do. But he wasn’t able to muscle it through relying on just Republican votes with his slim majority, having to depend instead on a significant number of Democrats as 55 members of his conference didn’t back Friday morning’s procedural measure. More than three dozen Democrats defected, most of them the most liberal in the caucus.
Democrats stepped in. They didn’t provide the votes Friday morning for the procedural vote until it became overwhelmingly clear Republicans could not pass the rule on their own. “We won’t let it fail,” one senior Democratic aide said.
Democrats have been signaling they would support Johnson but they withheld an outright announcement, wanting to ensure that they weren’t going to be forced to take votes on overtly political amendments as well as ensure the bill was structured so that funding for Ukraine would actually pass.
Democrats first sin that they’d help Johnson came as the clock approached midnight Thursday. The four Democrats on the Rules Committee provided their votes, a rare bipartisan move in the partisan Rules Committee, to allow the legislation to advance to the House floor as three far-right Republicans, Massie, Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas), bucked their party by voting against it. It was the first time Massie has opposed a rule in committee since he was put there by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
Ukraine funding has deeply divided a dysfunctional Republican Party and some Republicans are urging Johnson to be more forceful and seize control of the House and his party. Republicans from the conservative Main Street Caucus, one of the GOP’s five ideological groups, urged Johnson to penalize members who block regular order and vote “no” on rules, according to multiple Republicans.
But Johnson refused Thursday to raise the number of Republicans needed to threaten his job — known as a “motion to vacate,” which for now can be brought by just one Republican.
Greene told reporters Thursday that she would “absolutely” move forward with her motion if Johnson attempts to raise the threshold required to oust him.
Intraparty tensions are reaching a boiling point. A verbal altercation erupted on the House floor Thursday morning when Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) got into a heated argument, aggressively daring members of the Freedom Caucus to introduce their measure to oust Johnson and calling Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) “tubby,” according to a person who witnessed the argument. Gaetz responded by asking Van Orden if he has an IQ over 40, a Gaetz spokesperson said.
“I don’t care if the speaker’s office becomes a revolving door,” Greene said Thursday on the “War Room” podcast.