On April 15, US House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that the Republican-controlled legislature will vote on a bill to aid Ukraine and Israel this week, after months of delay.
The US Congress headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Source: The Hill) |
Johnson had previously blocked a $95 billion aid package, including $14.1 billion for Israel and $60 billion for Ukraine, that was pushed by Democratic President Joe Biden's administration. The bill had passed the Senate.
In a statement on social network X, Mr. Johnson stated that this week, the US House of Representatives will consider separate bills with amendments related to the above funding, while also aiming to promote wartime aid to Israel.
However, the White House has said it will block any bill that does not include Kiev content.
Previously, this politician twice brought a bill that only provided aid to Israel, not including Ukraine, to a vote but both failed.
House Speaker Johnson is struggling to push through legislation to provide aid to Kiev, as former President Donald Trump and many lawmakers in the chamber grow increasingly skeptical about the effectiveness of pouring billions of dollars into the conflict in the Eastern European country.
Meanwhile, in recent months, the Kiev government has grown increasingly frustrated with delays in Western aid.
The latest move by the US House of Representatives comes after Iran launched a large-scale drone and missile attack on Israel last weekend.
After the attack, the majority leader of the US House of Representatives, Republican Congressman Steve Scalise, announced that the legislative body would respond to Iran's attack with "legislation to support our ally Israel and hold Iran and its proxy terrorist groups accountable" without providing specific information about what it would do directly.
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