WASHINGTON (TND) — Senators return to Capitol Hill this week with hopes for quick passage of an aid package for Israel, but without a Speaker of the House, nothing can get to the president’s desk.
The White House is working with lawmakers to craft a security package that includes funding for both Israel and Ukraine, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said. The price tag, he said, will be “significantly higher” than the $2 billion previously reported.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, who met with Sullivan and members of the National Security Council last week, told CBS the administration is discussing the need for a package addressing a “quad” of national security concerns that, in addition to Israel and Ukraine, would provide funding for the US southern border and Taiwan.
Though Republican support for additional aid to Ukraine has been fading in recent months, Turner argued Congress shouldn’t “piecemeal” funding for Israel, Ukraine, the southern border, and Taiwan.
“We’re having a hard time keeping the House floor open. I don’t want to have to keep trying to bring people in and convince them to vote for minor pieces of overall security bills that we know are gonna have to come to the House floor over the next, this year and next,” Turner said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who spent the weekend in Israel with a bipartisan group of senators, told CNN he believes the Senate will pass something soon, regardless of whether the House has a speaker.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, won a simple majority of his conference’s support during a closed-door session last week but as of Monday afternoon, faced opposition from far more than four Republicans–the number of “nays” he can afford within his party and still be elected speaker with 217 votes.
After Jordan became speaker-designee, the conference held a vote to gauge his support if they took the matter to the House floor. A total of 55 Republicans said they would not vote for Jordan.
He has managed to flip some holdouts. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers announced Monday he would back Jordan after telling reporters last week there was nothing Jordan could do to win his support.
Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., also announced she will vote for Jordan after backing House Majority Leader Steve Scalise last week. In a statement explaining her new stance, Wagner cited the need to keep the government funded, strengthen southern border security, address human trafficking and child exploitation, and “our need for consistent international support in times of war and unrest.”
In a post on X, Jordan listed steps he thinks should be taken to “destroy Hamas and support Israel,” including additional sanctions against Iran for funding Hamas and supplying Israel with more interceptors for its Iron Dome.
In a report from Axios, some GOP lawmakers claimed Jordan gave assurances he would allow a vote grouping aid for Israel and Ukraine. A spokesperson denied to Axios that Jordan made any promises, saying his conversations with other members of the party were about finding the right approach, not specifics.
Jordan told reporters he thinks the House will elect a speaker on Tuesday.
Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., has criticized Jordan for how he handled Scalise’s bid for the speakership. He won’t disclose how he’ll vote Tuesday but said in an interview Monday, “Nobody in America can get 217 right now out of the Republican conference.”
“If that becomes apparent to everybody, then at some point in time we’re gonna have to work across the aisle,” Womack said. “Try to figure out what it’s going to take for us to be able to get a speaker elected and then get the ball rolling in Congress once again.”
