More than a dozen Republicans broke with GOP leadership Thursday to pass a bill that would provide more aid to Ukraine and slap new sanctions on Russia after forcing a vote on the matter through a discharge petition.
A discharge petition is a procedural tool used to circumvent leadership if it gathers 218 signatures.
The House voted 226 to 195 to approve the package, with 18 Republicans crossing party lines to send nearly $2 billion in aid to Ukraine. Only one Democrat, Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar, voted no, despite signing the petition.
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What the bill does
The bill would provide more than $1 billion in security and reconstruction aid to Ukraine while making another $8 billion available for the country’s defense through loans.
In a news conference Thursday, Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., who launched the petition, said the bill “works to end one of the world’s deadliest conflicts by ensuring Ukraine is able to negotiate from a position of strength and not weakness.”
The bill would also hit Russia with new economic penalties, including additional sanctions on its energy industry, tighter restrictions on financial institutions doing business with Moscow, 500% tariffs on Russian imports an a ban on Russian crude oil from being imported into the U.S.
GOP divide
The result exposes a deepening divide inside the Republican party over Ukraine, where a growing number of lawmakers are openly parting ways with Trump’s approach to the war.
Recently, Trump upset some members of his own party by loosening restrictions on Russian oil to lessen the impact the war in Iran is having on prices.
Supporters are hopeful the House passing the bill will put pressure on the Senate to do the same, but it’s unlikely to pass in the Senate without Trump’s endorsement.
“It’s probably not going to get 60 votes in the Senate, but it’s going to hopefully force the Senate to address the issue,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., who voted for the bill, said. “It’s going to send a great message to the soldiers of Ukraine.”
If the bill does pass the Senate, it still faces the likelihood of a veto by Trump.
An end in sight?
The vote also comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the four-year conflict.
“You can stop your war,” Zelenskyy said in an open letter to Putin.
Putin said Thursday he is prepared to pursue a diplomatic end to the war, but said the fighting will continue in the meantime.
“There’s no need for a suspension of hostilities to begin negotiations,” Putin said during a sidebar at Russia’s annual economic forum on Thursday. “No need indeed. We had negotiations, and the fighting didn’t stop.”
When speaking with reporters on Thursday, Trump said it “would be great” if Putin and Zelenskyy met.
“They should get it done,” he said.
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