Speaker Johnson: House Will Likely Block Senate Foreign Aid Bill

On Monday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced that the House of Representatives will most likely not take up a vote on a major foreign aid bill that is likely to pass the Senate this week.

As Axios reports, Johnson cited as his primary motivation the fact that the bill in question, which would spend $95 billion on aid to Ukraine and other foreign countries, does not include any provisions for securing America’s southern border.

“The Senate’s foreign aid bill is silent on the most pressing issue facing our country,” said Speaker Johnson in a statement. “In the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters.”

The bill cleared a procedural vote in the Senate on Sunday, when 67 Senators voted to advance debate on the measure; 16 Republicans voted with the Democrats in favor, overriding the attempted blockade of the bill by conservative and anti-interventionist Senators led by Rand Paul (R-Ky.). The bill would include aid for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and Gaza.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) had previously made a statement suggesting that, in the event of an effort to block the bill by Speaker Johnson, House Democrats might try to force the bill to a floor vote by a discharge petition.

“House Democrats are prepared to use every available legislative tool to make sure we get comprehensive national security legislation over the finish line,” said Jeffries in a statement last week.