House approves $95 billion in aid for Ukraine, Israel, other allies

The U.S. House of Representatives is poised to give a final vote on a $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and allies in the Asia-Pacific in a rare Saturday session.

In an extremely rare step, the members of the House Rules Committee joined forces late Thursday in a near-midnight vote. Four Democrats gave their support on a procedural step to push past the Republican majority's three hardline holdouts to send the package to the House floor for debate on a 9-3 vote. It was a moment unseen in recent House memory.

This week, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson set in motion a plan to advance the package, which had been held up since October 2023.

If the votes are successful Saturday, the package will go to the Senate, where passage in the coming days is nearly assured. President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.

Meanwhile, Johnson has faced fierce opposition from his right flank and growing threats for his ouster.

Some Democrats are entertaining the prospect of coming to his rescue should Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., force a vote to get rid of Johnson. However, it will likely depend on his ability to deliver the emergency aid package.

Speaker Johnson faces ouster threat from GOP

A third House Republican lawmaker is jumping on board the effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson over his plan for foreign aid. LiveNOW's Andrew Craft spoke about the fight to oust Johnson with Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL).

What is in the $95 billion aid package?

Ukraine

About $61 billion will be allocated to support Ukraine.

The money is earmarked for the purchase of weapons from the U.S. as well as $9 billion in economic assistance to Ukraine in the form of "forgivable loans."

Israel

More than $26 billion in aid will be used to support and provide Israel with humanitarian relief for the citizens of Gaza.

About $4 billion will be dedicated to replenishing Israel’s missile defense systems and an additional $2.4 billion will be used for current U.S. military operations in the regions.

Indo-Pacific

The investments to counter China and ensure a strong deterrence in the region come to about $8 billion. The overall amount of money and the investments in the two bills is about the same with a quarter of funds used to replenish weapons and ammunition systems that had been provided to Taiwan.

TikTok and other foreign policy priorities

The House will also vote on a bill that combines a raft of foreign policy proposals. It includes legislation to allow the U.S. to seize and transfer an estimated $5 billion in Russian assets to a "Ukraine Support Fund."

It also includes legislation that would ban the video app TikTok if its China-based owner, ByteDance, does not sell it.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. This story was reported from Los Angeles.