In a surprising turn of events, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has decided to retain the $300 million Ukraine aid in the Pentagon funding bill.
This decision comes as a reversal from his previous announcement, where he had stated his intention to remove the aid due to opposition from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
McCarthy, in a press briefing at the Capitol, explained his decision to keep the Ukraine aid in the bill. He pointed out that another spending measure, which is set to be discussed next week and funds the State Department and Foreign Operations, also includes financial aid for Kyiv. He stated that removing the Ukraine aid from the State Department and Foreign Operations measure would be more challenging, leading him to decide to retain the aid in both bills.
The House is scheduled to take a single procedural vote next week to advance four appropriations bills. These include the ones that fund the Pentagon and the State Department and Foreign Operations. McCarthy expressed the complexity of the situation, stating, "Thats not solving it because one of the others has some Ukraine things. So it became too difficult to do that so were leaving it in."
However, the House will vote on amendments to remove the Ukraine aid from both the Pentagon and State Department and Foreign Operations spending bills, as stated by Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.). These votes may not occur if lawmakers prevent the measures from being debated.
McCarthy's decision to retain the Ukraine aid in the pair of appropriations bills is likely to face opposition from Greene. She had previously voted against the procedural vote to advance the Pentagon appropriations bill because it included funding for Kyiv. Greene has been vocal about her opposition to sending additional money to Ukraine.
McCarthy anticipates Greene's opposition to the procedural vote to advance the four spending bills due to the inclusion of Ukraine aid. He stated, "I think Marjorie still has a problem. I think shell vote no on the rule if its in there, thats why I was trying to solve it where everybody could be there. But this one, it didnt work out."
Earlier this week, a group of House conservatives broke from convention and opposed the rule for the Pentagon appropriations bill twice. This move blocked the legislation from advancing to debate and a vote on final passage, dealing a blow to McCarthy's efforts to move spending bills ahead of the government funding deadline on September 30.
Votes on rules, which govern debate for legislation, are typically partisan and predictable. It is unusual for rules to fail on the floor. Greene, however, supported the rule on Tuesday but voted against it on Thursday, citing the Ukraine aid.
The Pentagon funding bill includes $300 million to provide assistance to Ukraine, including training, equipment, lethal assistance, logistics support, supplies and services, salaries and stipends, sustainment, and intelligence support.
In an attempt to win Greene's support, McCarthy had announced on Friday that he would remove the Ukraine funding from the spending bill and hold a separate vote on it. Greene, a close ally of McCarthy, expressed her satisfaction with the decision but added that the removal of Ukraine funding from the legislation "should have happened weeks ago."
She also pointed out that the House was set to consider "another appropriations bill with tons of cash in it for Ukraine" next week, implying that the debate over Ukraine aid is far from over.
Addressing this issue, McCarthy said, "Now when we put the SFOPS too theres Ukraine money in that too and that becomes more difficult to do. I was trying to find a way to solve the problem, that if we were just voting on the DoD approps bill I think I could have solved that, this one makes it a little more difficult."
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