A bill that would deliver new aid to Ukraine and sanction Russia is set to get a House vote in the coming weeks after a bipartisan group of lawmakers completed a discharge petition forcing it to the floor.
Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-Calif.) delivered the decisive 218th signature Wednesday on the effort to push the Ukraine Support Act through the House over the objections of Republican leaders.
Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, launched the discharge effort almost a year ago. Now Democrats are planning to force the vote the first week of June, according to three people granted anonymity to describe private plans.
It’s the latest headache for Speaker Mike Johnson, who has already seen a staggering number of discharge petitions succeed this Congress and is now seeking to unify his conference around a party-line immigration enforcement bill.
A pair of centrist House Republicans, Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Don Bacon of Nebraska, had already signed the Ukraine petition and had been lobbying GOP colleagues for months to join them.
“A message to our Ukrainian friends: Help is on the way,” Fitzpatrick said Wednesday.
The bill, introduced by Meeks, would provide $1.3 billion in aid to Ukraine and implement new sanctions on Russia amid the four-year war between the two countries. The bill also reaffirms U.S. support for Ukraine and the importance of NATO.
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