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

The House voted in a rare Saturday session to approve three foreign aid bills for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies totaling $95 billion.

A fourth bill was also passed that contains several other foreign policy proposals, including requiring the China-based owner of the popular video app TikTok to sell its stake within a year or face a ban in the United States. Read more about that here.

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

The package will now roll into one proposed bill and be presented 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.

Movement on holding a procedural vote to remove him is possible in the coming days, spearheaded by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

"We expect (Johnson’s job) to be the main focus in the House after these foreign aid bills get wrapped up," Ken Tran, a Congress and campaigns reporter with USA Today, told LiveNOW from FOX on Saturday.

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

This bill includes a raft of foreign policy proposals, including 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.

Politics U.S.World