In second break with Trump in a week, House passes bill to aid Ukraine | House of Representatives
The House passed legislation on Thursday that would aid Ukraine and impose sanctions on key segments of Russia’s economy, overruling the objections of Republican leaders who warned the bill would undermine negotiations designed to produce a comparable but stronger outcome.
The 226-195 vote is a sign of impatience with Donald Trump’s approach to war and represents the House’s second major foreign policy break with Trump this week. A day earlier, the House approved for the first time a war powers resolution aimed at halting U.S. military action against Iran.
The legislation, sponsored by Democratic representative Gregory Meeks, aims to strengthen U.S. aid to Ukraine by providing more than $1 billion in security and reconstruction aid. An additional $8 billion will be provided to Ukraine’s defense through loans.
Supporters were able to take action on the Ukraine bill by collecting 218 signatures on the discharge petition, a legislative tool that allows the House majority to effectively oust leadership.
Once rarely successful, members of the House of Representatives have used the petition tool in this Congress to pass bills to release the government’s files on Jeffrey Epstein and to expand health benefits to many people who receive health insurance through the Affordable Care Act; but the second measure failed in the Senate.
Meeks said the issue before the House is simple. Will it help Ukraine negotiate from a position of strength, or will it help Russia outlast America’s resolve?
“We all want this war to end,” Meeks said. “The question is: Will we abandon Ukraine and force it into a terrible deal? Vladimir Putin is counting on it. Or will this organization fulfill the commitments we have made since the beginning of the war?”
The vast majority of Republicans opposed the measure.
Brian Mast, chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, said he believed the bill was “a stick to fight against President Trump.”
“I think this bill is basically a non-serious bill that was drafted a year and a half ago,” Mast said.
Representative Don Bacon broke with most of his Republican colleagues in supporting the bill.
“Are we going to be on the side of good or are we going to be on the side of evil? That’s what tonight is about,” he said.
Supporters are hopeful that the House’s passage of the Ukraine bill will put pressure on the Senate to follow suit. But they also know that the Senate likely won’t comply unless Trump approves the bill.
“It probably won’t get 60 votes in the Senate, but hopefully it will force the Senate to take up this issue,” said Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, who signed the discharge petition and voted to pass the bill. “It will send a great message to Ukrainian soldiers.”
He said the vote would also send a message to Putin that “we have a pulse here, we care about Ukraine and we will use our authority to help them.”
As the war dragged on, it became more difficult for Ukraine supporters in Congress to secure additional financial support to help Ukraine defend itself.
The United States has approved approximately $195 billion for Ukraine’s response, according to the latest quarterly inspector general report for Operation Atlantic Resolve, about a quarter of which will be used to replenish the U.S. military’s weapons stockpile. The last major legislation designed to support Ukraine’s intervention was published in April 2024, although modest amounts have been included in annual appropriations bills since then.
