Johnson to unwrap Ukraine bill. Ukraine and Israel bills may be voted on separately.

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WASHINGTON—Embattled House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) has pledged to bring up Ukraine aid for a vote in the House soon after Congress returns from Easter recess in coming days. But what the bill will look like—and who will support it—remains unsettled due to fractures among Republicans and Democrats over both aid for Kyiv and related assistance for Israel.
The Senate passed a $95 billion package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in February with bipartisan support. Johnson has resisted calls from defense hawks of both parties to simply bring the Senate bill up for a vote in the House, saying his chamber will move forward with its own bill that would add “some important innovations” not included in the Senate version.
In a tacit acknowledgment of the tricky political terrain, Johnson has said he was weighing splitting up Ukraine aid and Israel aid so that lawmakers can vote on each element separately. Doing so could maximize Democratic votes for Ukraine, which accounts for about $60 billion of the package, while allowing some Republicans to vote for Israel aid, even if they don’t support more money for Ukraine.
Johnson has also publicly floated a few policy proposals that could squeeze some more votes here and there: converting some Ukraine aid to a loan, confiscating seized Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction and lifting the Biden administration’s moratorium on new liquefied natural gas export projects. But details are scarce. Even some GOP lawmakers who have been involved in discussions about the package say they haven’t seen the final text of the bill.
Meanwhile, a group of House Democrats sent a letter to Johnson saying the House aid package needed more humanitarian assistance to address urgent needs in Gaza as well as countries including Sudan and Haiti.

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