By JON MICHAEL RAASCH, POLITICAL REPORTER ON CAPITOL HILL, FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and MORGAN PHILLIPS, CONGRESS REPORTER ON CAPITOL HILL FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
Speaker Mike Johnson risked his political career to shepherd through over $60 billion in Ukrainian aid on the House floor on Saturday as part of a $95 billion aid package for U.S. allies.
The package in total gives $26 billion to Israel, $60.8 billion to Ukraine and $8 billion to the Indo-Pacific through a combination of military and humanitarian aid.
The package consisting of three separate aid bills was voted on alongside a fourth ‘side car’ that includes a potential TikTok ban and a vehicle to repurpose seized Russian assets for Ukraine.
The bill providing cash for Kyiv – by far the most contentious of the day and the one Johnson could lost his job over – passed 311 to 112.
‘We would rather send bullets to the conflict overseas than our own boys, our troops,’ Johnson insisted after the vote.
The Israel aid bill passed 366 to 58, with opposition largely consisting of progressives who wanted the aid conditioned on a ceasefire.
Democrats and a small handful of Republicans waved Ukrainian flags on the House floor during the vote and cheered as it passed. They were reminded ‘it is a violation of decorum to wave flags on the floor.’
The side car bill passed 360 to 58, with an amendment that requires Treasury to submit a support on Iranian assets and sanction exemptions.
The Indo-Pacific bill, to offer military aid to Taiwan against a fast-encroaching China, passed 385-34, with 34 Republicans voting against it and one Democrat, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Mich., voting ‘present.’
President Joe Biden praised passage of the foreign aid package: ‘Today, members of both parties in the House voted to advance our national security interests and send a clear message about the power of American leadership on the world stage.’
‘It comes at a moment of grave urgency, with Israel facing unprecedented attacks from Iran, and Ukraine under continued bombardment from Russia,’ he went on. ‘I urge the Senate to quickly send this package to my desk so that I can sign it into law and we can quickly send weapons and equipment to Ukraine to meet their urgent battlefield needs.’
The vote comes days after CIA Director Bill Burns warned that Ukraine would lose its war with Russia by the end of the year if the U.S. failed to send additional military support.
The weekend vote is expected to trigger conservative rabble rousers, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who has set in motion a process to remove Johnson.
Johnson said on Saturday he doesn’t ‘walk around worried’ about a motion to vacate because he’s got a ‘job to do.’