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Democrats are eying a plan to bypass House Speaker Mike Johnson and force a vote on a sweeping foreign aid package, but it’s quickly running into hurdles — and not just from Republicans.
Progressive firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. told Semafor Tuesday evening that she would not sign onto a discharge petition to force a vote on the national security package in part because of the assistance it would provide to Israel. “Am I signing it? No,” she said.
The foreign aid bill combines billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine, Israel, and allies in the Asia Pacific.
Ocasio-Cortez is one of multiple progressive lawmakers who could withhold support for the measure due to objections over Israel’s conduct in the Gaza war. Some progressives will likely not sign onto a discharge petition, another Democratic representative who requested anonymity told Semafor.
A discharge petition needs 218 signatures in order to force a House vote on a piece of legislation. That means that Democrats will need to convince some Republicans to join them, while also minimizing defections in their own ranks.
Republicans aren’t yet sounding too enthusiastic about the discharge petition idea, either. Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., who represents a district that President Joe Biden won in 2020, told Semafor that he believed the different pieces of the supplemental package should be handled individually (echoing Johnson).
“Nobody has presented one to me,” he said when asked about a discharge petition. “I am eager to find a solution on all three issues. But I’m not eager to enter into that territory because I am optimistic that we can find three independent solutions to three real problems — the first of which is America’s own border.”
And moderate Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., seen as a possible get for Democrats, also told CNN that he does not plan to sign on to a discharge petition,” signaling he’s changed his mind from what he told Semafor a few days earlier. “I’ll just say I support military aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. I also support a secure border. I’ll confer with the Speaker on next steps to take,” he told Semafor Sunday.
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The Senate passed the foreign aid package in a bipartisan vote on Tuesday, sending it down an uncertain path in the House. Johnson told reporters Tuesday afternoon that he does not plan to put the Senate package as is on the House floor for a vote.
“Right now, we’re dealing with the appropriations process, we have immediate deadlines upon us and that’s where the attention is in the House in this moment,” he said.
Democrats have been toying with the idea of a discharge petition to force a vote on Ukraine aid, given the growing Republican opposition to Ukraine aid particularly in the House.
“All options are on the table. We’re going to utilize every available legislative tool,” Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters at a press conference Tuesday afternoon, without explicitly mentioning a discharge petition. He said Democrats would discuss the path forward at meetings Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning and predicted the aid package would get “more than 300 bipartisan votes” on the floor.
The View From Mitch McConnell
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., an ardent Ukraine supporter, called on Johnson to hold a vote on aid for Kyiv in an interview with Politico, but said he would not be “so presumptuous as to tell him how to do it.”
The View From the white house
Biden implored Johnson to allow the House to vote on the foreign aid package during a speech at the White House. “Supporting this bill is standing up” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, he said. The White House is also accusing Republicans opposed to the aid package of siding with Iran, pointing out how Tehran has emerged as a key supplier of weapons to Russia.
The View From Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked U.S. senators for approving the $60 billion aid package early Tuesday. “The next step is a vote in the US House of Representatives. We anticipate an equally strong moral choice and a decision that will work for the benefit of our shared security,” he wrote on X.