Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday said he planned this week to advance a long-stalled national security spending package to aid Israel, Ukraine and other American allies, along with a separate bill aimed at mollifying conservatives who have been vehemently opposed to backing Kyiv.
Mr. Johnson’s announcement, coming after he has agonized for weeks over whether and how to advance an infusion of critical aid to Ukraine amid stiff Republican resistance, was the first concrete indication that he had settled on a path forward. It came days after Iran launched a large aerial attack on Israel, amplifying calls for Congress to move quickly to approve the pending aid bill.
Emerging from a meeting in which he briefed G.O.P.lawmakers on his plan, Mr. Johnson said he would cobble together a legislative package that roughly mirrors the $95 billion aid bill the Senate passed two months ago but is broken down into three pieces. Lawmakers would vote separately on a bill providing money for Israel, one providing funding for Ukraine and a third with aid for Taiwan and other allies. They would cast a fourth vote on a separate measure containing other policies popular among Republicans.
“The overall concept is the same” as the Senate-passed bill, Mr. Johnson said. “It’s the same places that the funding would be sent, and you’ll see the House’s take on it.”
In addition, the House would take up legislation that would require that some of the aid to Ukraine to be paid back and that some of it be financed by selling off Russian sovereign assets that have been frozen. That package also would include a bill that could ban TikTok, which passed the House overwhelmingly last month but has since languished in the Senate.
It is not clear whether the convoluted strategy will be successful in the House, where Mr. Johnson has a tenuous hold on his divided conference and a bare majority. Its success would require a complicated mix of bipartisan coalitions around each piece of the package. Both Senators Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, had urged Mr. Johnson to pass the Senate-passed aid package as is.
