House Republicans may be eyeing an alternative path forward to advance a bipartisan Ukraine and Israel aid bill after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) declared the Senate framework dead on arrival in the lower chamber.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) said there was an effort among House and Senate members to draft a separate piece of legislation providing foreign aid and addressing the southern border that would be “very similar” to the Senate proposal but include provisions that would get a majority of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to sign on.
The move comes after the Senate passed its foreign aid supplemental earlier this week which has already been rejected by GOP leadership in the House. Discussions are still in the early stages, according to Fitzpatrick.
“It’s not bipartisan yet, we’re working on it,” Fitzpatrick said. “We have our own product that we’re going to release.”
The push comes as lawmakers are considering alternative options to advance foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel after the Senate version was deemed “dead on arrival” by Johnson. The Senate passed its $95 billion foreign aid bill after an all-night voting session on Monday. The upper chamber’s supplemental would provide assistance for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, as well as replenish the U.S. military with weapon systems that were sent to help foreign allies.
House Democrats have pushed for Johnson to bring that legislation to the floor for a vote, arguing it would pass with majority support. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) reiterated that call on Tuesday, vowing to use “every available legislative tool to get comprehensive national security legislation over the finish line.”
Under House rules, lawmakers can put forward a discharge petition that would advance a piece of legislation to the floor for a vote even without leadership’s blessing. The petition would require a majority of lawmakers to sign on in order to be scheduled for a vote.
There’s already a shell discharge petition that has every Democratic lawmaker’s signature on it, meaning only a few Republicans would need to sign on to the measure for it to succeed. If that 218-signature threshold is met, the bill would then be brought to the floor for a vote.
House Republicans have pushed against the proposal to use a discharge petition to bring the legislation to the floor. Johnson also poured cold water on the idea on Tuesday, telling reporters he would “certainly oppose it.”
Johnson has not indicated whether he would support a separate piece of legislation to advance foreign aid. But if the proposal includes Republican-led border security policies, it could be enough to convince Johnson to bring it to the floor.
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“We are not going to be forced into action by the Senate who, in the latest product they sent us over does not have one word in the bill about America’s border,” Johnson said of the Senate foreign aid supplemental bill. “The reason that the other one was dead on arrival is because it did not meet the moment, it would not have solved the problem. You can’t leave giant loopholes and codify some of the things that have gotten us into this situation.”
It’s not entirely clear who is included in the conversations or what the timeline for legislative text would be. However, Fitzpatrick said they would push for a finalized proposal “hopefully in the next few days.”