Democrats privately lobby to split Ukraine from Israel aid
The Scoop
Some senior House Democrats are encouraging their leaders to get behind separating Ukraine aid from a broader foreign aid package, a Democratic aide told Semafor.
The push has intensified in recent days, the aide said, as Democrats grow increasingly uncomfortable with Israel’s prosecution of the war on Hamas in Gaza.
Currently, the Senate-passed foreign aid bill — including $60 billion in aid for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, and funding for allies in Asia — is subject to a discharge petition in the House that many House Democrats have signed onto. But the petition has fallen short of the 218 signatures necessary to force a vote on the House floor, in part because House progressives are opposed to the Israel aid in the bill.
The exact mechanics of how they would separate Ukraine and Israel aid were unclear, but could involve using a discharge petition to force a vote on a new bill.
Asked about the developments, a House Democratic leadership aide told Semafor that Democrats have “stressed the urgency” of passing Ukraine aid and offered a variety of different thoughts about how best to do it. The aide insisted, however, that Democrats agree that the Senate-passed aide package should come to the floor.
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Some progressives have made clear they will not sign onto the discharge petition due to the inclusion of Israel aid. “We cannot stand by and allow children to be bombed, to die of starvation, or to see their entire families wiped out,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y. said earlier this month in remarks first reported by Semafor.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, meanwhile, has resisted taking up the Senate bill. Instead, he is preparing a package that would turn some Ukraine aid into loans, allow the U.S. to use frozen Russian assets to fund Kyiv, and reverse the Biden administration’s pause on new liquified natural gas terminals.
The path forward for that measure is uncertain because of growing Republican resistance to Ukraine funding, leading some Democrats to believe a discharge petition to force a vote on a bill is the best course. The White House has also encouraged the House to take up the Senate-passed measure, emphasizing the urgency of the situation on the battlefield for Ukraine, which has had to ration ammunition.
“We need to make sure Ukraine has what it needs to defend itself against Russia’s aggression,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters this week. “And there is a way to get Ukraine what they need. All the speaker has to do is put that national security supplemental on the floor.”
