House moderates challenge Speaker Johnson to put foreign aid up for a vote

Bipartisan lawmakers are pressuring House Speaker Mike Johnson to put a pared-down foreign aid package on the floor and vow to go around the speaker if he doesn’t.

The group, led by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick and Jared Golden, are threatening to force their legislation onto the floor for a vote if Mr. Johnson doesn’t give the bill a shot. The speaker has already shot down the chances of a vote on the Senate’s broader foreign aid bill because it lacks stringent border security measures.

Forcing a floor vote would require a discharge petition, which needs at least a majority of signatures from lawmakers, or 218, to go forward and would tee up a floor vote without the green light from GOP leadership. The lawmakers say Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, has until Friday to decide.

Mr. Golden, Maine Democrat, said Mr. Johnson has two paths: “Put something on the floor or it’s a discharge petition that’s going to need bipartisan support because neither party can be able to generate 218 signatures by themselves.”

Mr. Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania Republican, sounded confident of enough support for a vote.

The lawmakers hope Mr. Johnson puts the bill on the floor, allowing for an amendment process that could include sweeteners like humanitarian aid for Gaza.

The lawmakers described their bill as a bare-bones vehicle to meet national and domestic security needs and one in which Republicans and Democrats agree. Yet hardly anything in the bill aims to secure the border.

The $66 billion foreign aid and border security bill includes $47 billion to Ukraine, $10 billion to Israel and just shy of $5 billion to support operations in the Indo-Pacific region. The bill also includes over $2 billion to U.S. Central Command for combat expenditures related to recent conflicts in the Red Sea.

It also tacks on the Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy, with no money to stop the flood of illegal immigrants.

The bipartisan lawmakers are trying to pit political ideologies against one another with the bill. Mr. Fitzpatrick argued it would be an indefensible position for either side to not support the legislation — Republicans would have to argue they don’t want Ukraine more than they want border security, and vice versa for Democrats.

“We just want the problem solved,” Mr. Fitzpatrick said. “This is not a transportation bill. This is not the naming of a post office. This is literally U.S. domestic security and world peace on the line here.”