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The US House of Representatives has approved over $60bn in military aid for Ukraine in its fight against Russia, in a major breakthrough after months of inaction on Capitol Hill.
The Ukraine aid was part of a $95bn package of national security bills that also includes $26bn for Israel and $8bn for the Indo-Pacific region, as well as a bill that could result in TikTok being banned from US app stores.
The Ukraine bill passed the House on Saturday afternoon with 311 to 112, and 210 Democrats and 101 Republicans voting in favour. No Democrats voted against the aid package, while 112 Republicans voted against. Many Democratic lawmakers cheered and waved Ukrainian flags on the House floor as the result was announced.
US President Joe Biden said in a statement that Saturday’s vote sent a “clear message about the power of American leadership on the world stage”.
“At this critical inflection point, [lawmakers] came together to answer history’s call, passing urgently needed national security legislation that I have fought for months to secure,” Biden said.
The aid comes at a critical time for Kyiv in its war against Russia’s invasion. Moscow’s troops have seized the initiative on the battlefield, exploiting Kyiv’s lack of arms and munitions after the failure of Ukraine’s counteroffensive last year and as US-supplied military assistance was blocked.
“The vital US aid bill passed today by the House will keep the war from expanding, save thousands and thousands of lives, and help both of our nations to become stronger,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement. “Just peace and security can only be attained through strength.”
Zelenskyy said he was grateful to representatives of both parties and Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson in particular “for the decision that keeps history on the right track”.
Ukrainian commanders told the Financial Times near the frontline in the eastern Donetsk region earlier this month that they were desperate for Congress to approve the aid package, with one saying it was a matter of “life and death” for his troops. For months, they have been rationing their ammunition against Russian forces who have had a near 10-to-1 artillery advantage.
A western official told the FT on Friday that a significant portion of the weaponry was currently stored just across the Ukrainian border in Rzeszów, Poland, suggesting it could be rushed to Kyiv in short order.
Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg praised the passage of the bill in a statement on social network X. “Ukraine is using the weapons provided by Nato allies to destroy Russian combat capabilities,” he said. “This makes us all safer, in Europe and North America.”
The package will now be sent to the US Senate, which is expected to approve it early next week. It will then be sent to Biden to be signed into law. Biden on Saturday urged the Senate to act swiftly “so that I can sign it into law and we can quickly send weapons and equipment to Ukraine to meet their urgent battlefield needs”.
Saturday’s vote ends months of inaction in the House, where Johnson refused to take up a different $95bn national security supplemental aid bill that passed the Senate in February. Johnson faced opposition from isolationist Republicans who wield outsized influence in the divided Congress.
But Johnson, an ally of Donald Trump, faced mounting pressure to act in recent weeks, especially after Iran launched an aerial attack last weekend on Israel, Washington’s closest ally in the Middle East.
On Monday, Johnson laid out his new plan to break the Senate-approved legislation into four separate bills, in a move designed to placate the feuding factions of his own Republican party.
Yet the package has failed to win over Johnson’s critics from within his own party, especially hardline lawmakers such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, who are vehemently opposed to more aid for Ukraine. Greene has threatened to introduce a “motion to vacate”, which would trigger a vote of no confidence in the Speaker.
Johnson’s job remains in jeopardy, and if Greene were to force a no-confidence vote he would almost certainly have to rely on Democratic support to keep the Speakership. Democrats failed to come to the rescue of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy when he faced a rebellion last year, but have signalled in recent days that they are open to bailing out Johnson should he face a similar challenge.
Earlier this year, Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, predicted there would be a “reasonable number” of House Democrats who think Johnson “should not fall”.
